.>(.!;i;!K;:'--;M^r 



E340 
.D6 W7 



itiiiti^-J.i^i:iS:\-^. ':g;: 



HStTi^.yF^''"-''/-!- 



LIBRARY OF CX)NGRESS 



DDDDS7E4T1D • 



.A 






''7..' .0* 






* • • o " 



.Or, 



,0^ • ' • 



5 

i 



, ■ 



V.>. 



-^^^ 



'•f. 






«;^ 









." .-N^ 



,-^^ 



o 



9^' 



. . • ' 






.0 



•J- •;, 






"4 






9, 



V 



o ■ « . 



. « 



4* 



• • • • aO 



o 



A' 



.♦" 






.V 






O' 




• e „ o ' .0 



^ 



e ■ • 



<>. " 






c^^-- 

^.J"^ 



^^ 



A. 



^<i> ^0-0* ''^., 



• A^ 



.c 






iV 






• • • ^" '9"^ * • 1 1 • ,«r^ 






•>.. 



e 



C 



0«». '^ ^'^ .l'#. '>. 



O . ' O » k 



!\^ 



^. « 






■?>. 











'<. 



A SKETCH 



OF 



THE LIFE 



OF 



PHILIP DOIIDRIDftE. 

BY 



READ BEFORE THE WEST VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 

AT ITS ANNUAL MEETING HELD IN THE 

"WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY, 

JUNE, 1875. 



PUBLISHED BY OKDER OF THE SOCIETY. 



MORGANTOWN: , 

MORGAN A HOFFMAN', 1 BISTERS. 
1875. 



■N 



PEEFA.TORY. 



In the preparation of the following sketch, the same dis- 
appointment has been encountered which often presents 
itself to the biographer of persons of even the greatest dis- 
tinction — the meagerness of personal details and private 
history, that can be satisfactorily authenticated after the 
lapse of a generation from the time of their decease. In- 
deed, it is not an uufrequent fact, that men of the highest 
order of intellect, and who have participated largely, and 
influentially, in the various learned professions, have, never- 
theless, left few and inadequate proofs of their great talents 
and activities. This is especially so, in the case of those who 
have been chiefly distinguished as members of the Bar. 
The judge on the Bench leaves the evidences of his learning 
and ability in his recorded decisions; the philosopher is 
known by his discoveries; the poet by his works; the his- 
torian by his annals; and the statesman by his measures of 
public policy incorporated in the legislation of his country. 
But in respect of the most eminent of them, there are many 
instances, where we can ascertain but little of their personal 
habits, private life, and social characteristics. 



rREFATonv. 



Xo scholar, or man of taste, will acknowledge himself to 
be unacquainted with The Iliad and Odyssey; yet, nothing 
is known of their author, excepting his name; and even 
that is disputed by some, llow meager is the personal 
liistory of Shakespeare I The fame of many a genius is 
merely traditional. Our own Patrick Henry, for instance. 
If we were to Judge of his oratory, only by the examples he 
has left, he would hardly be entitled to the merit of medi- 
ocrity. Xo faithful ]ien was present with the living orator 
to transfer his wonderful eloquence to the enduring page; 
and the witnesses of it, passed away with his co-tempora- 
ries. So it has been with many of our eminent barristers 
and advocates. Their learning, eloquence and intellectual 
acliievements, exerted in the judicial forum, have left no 
memorial, but the naked verdicts of juries, and formal 
decrees of courts, which are silent as to the forensic power 
and abilitv which secured them. Doubtless, the judicial 
opinions of the bench shine, oftentimes, with a lustre bor- 
rowed from the light shed upon the questions adjudicated, 
by the counsel who discussed them at the bar; but the bar- 
rister receives no credit for it. This, however, is no unu- 
sual thing. Many a reaper gathers a rich harvest where he 
never sowed; and there are those in evei-y sphere of life, 
who enjoy the credit of merit justly due to others. It has 
often happened, in the history of the world, that the great- 
est events were, primarily, assignable to agencies unac- 
knowledged and unrecognized in the processes of their 
accomplishtncnt. Kevolutions, changing the aspect and 



PREFATORY. 



conditions of nations, not nnfreqncntly have tlioir sources 
in the qaiet study of the philosopher, who, from the dcptlis 
of his own mind and heart, silently evolves those original 
principles and moral forces, which set the world in motion ; 
and the visible actors, like the index hands on the face of a 
watch, moved around by the hidden power of the invisible 
mainspring, unconsciously mark the progress of mankind 
on " the dial-plate of time." Yet it is these external agents, 
who make history. They receive the renown. They be- 
come famous. Their deeds are chronicled; whilst the poor 
intellectual factor who pointed out the way to glory, seldom 
finds a biographer; and when he does, his life is so ban-en 
of incident, and stirring adventure, as to secure, only here 
and there, a reader, who likes to trace effects back to their 
causes, and who is willing to accord to moral and intellec- 
tual excellence, a paramount consideration. 
' The true life of the eminent barrister and advocate, can 
never be written. His co-temporaries might have described 
his public eiforts, if they had been present to witness them. 
But his greatest achievements are not wrought in public. 
They are accomplished when there are no witnesses, alone, 
in his office, among his books and his briefs. There he 
orsranizes his victories; there he detects the fraud; there 
he- discovers the guilt; there he cqui[)3 himself for the vin- 
dication of justice; there he foils the devices of the treach- 
erous adversary; there, from all the history, and philosophy, 
and jurisprudence of the past, he qualities himself for the 
discharge of the duties of a profession, which, in the Ian- 



6 PREFATORY. 



guage of Dr. Joliuson, " requires the greatest powers of the 
raind applied to the greatest number of purposes." 

The subject of this sketch has been dead forty-two years. 
Much the larger portion of his mature life had been exclu- 
sively devoted to the practice of the law. Onlj- one of his 
legal arguments, so far as is now known, was ever published: 
and that was made in tlie House of Representatives of the 
United States, near the close of his life. The consequence 
is, that this period of his career, furnishes little of either 
professional or private history, excepting what is traditional. 



BIRTH, EDUCATION, MARRIAGE, AC. 



Philip Doddridge, the subject of this sketch, was the 
second son of John Doddridge, who was a native of Mary- 
land, born there in the year 1745, where, on the 22nd De- 
cember, 1765, he married Mary, the daughter of Richard 
Wells, of that State. They emigrated from Maryland to 
Bedford county, Pennsylvania; and there, Philip was born 
on the 17th of May, 1772. In the Spring of 1773, they 
removed to Washington county, Pennsylvania. / There is 
still standing, near Middletown in that county, an old 
church, known as the "Doddridge Chapel," on the farm 
where John Doddridge then settled, and where he contin- 
ued to reside until he died in April, 1791. It was built by 
himself for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church; and 
it is said to have been the first chapel erected for that de- 
nomination west of the Allegheny mountains. 

At that time, this place was within the jurisdiction, and 
was supposed to be in the territory, of Virginia. But after- 
wards, when Mason and Dixon's line was established, and 
the western boundary of Pennsylvania was drawn due 
north from the western terminus of Mason and Dixon's 
line, the residence of the Doddridge family was included, 
by a short distance, within the territory of Pennsylvania. 

The writer has been furnished with what purports to be 



8 BIRTH, EDUCATION, MARRIAGE, AC. 

"an extract from the records of the Doddridge family," in 
which it is alleged that "John Doddridge, was the son of 
Joseph and Mary Doddridge." There is reason to doubt 
the correctness of this statement. There still remains in 
the possession of a niece of the subject of this sketch, (Mrs. 
Polslev, wife of lion. Daniel Polslev, of Point Pleasant, 
West Virginia,) an old book — " Hall's Meditations" — prin- 
ted in Loudon in 1C17, which appears to have been a kind 
of heir-loom in the family. On the title page of this book, 
there is a memorandum in the handwriting of John Dod- 
dridge, as follows : 

" Once the properUj of John Charldton, of Frederiehtoicn, Ma- 
ryland. After his decease, the property of Joseph Doddridge, of 
the same place. After his decease, it became the property of Philip 
Doddridge, son of Josqih Doddridqe. Written by me, Jan. 1st, 
in the year of oar Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eiyhty- 
sci'en. Jonx Doddridge." 

Judge Polslc}', to whom we are indebted for this trans- 
script, atlds: "This John Doddridge, although he does not 
say so, was the son of the elder Philip, and the father oi our 
Philip." It is possible, however, that this John Doddridge, 
although ho does not say so, may have had a brother named 
I'hilip, who was the last named proprietor of the book. 

The first ancestor of the family in this country, came 
from J*]iiglaud, and settled in the colony of Xew Jersey. lie 
was of the same stock as the celebrated Philip Doddridge, 
author of "The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul:" 
:ind was said to have been nearly related to him. 

nuring the minority of young Pliilip. the facilities ^ov 
acquiring an education, were very meagre, in the vicinity 
of his place of residence. There were neither colleges, nor 
academies there; and the common schools were of an infe- 



BIRTHj EDUCATIOX, MARRIAGE, &C. 



rior character. Indeed, there were few schools of any 
grade. Nor did the circumstauces of his parents, enable 
them to send him to distant seats of learnincr. Until he 
was seventeen years of age, he was kept at home, work- 
ing upon the farm; receiving, however, from his father, 
who was a "good English scholar," such instruction, as the 
intervals of their toil permitted the one to give, and the 
other to receive. At the age of seventeen, he was placed 
at school, in Charlestowu (now Wellsburg, Brooke county. 
West Virginia,) under the tuition of a gentleman by the 
name of Johnson. Here he remained a short time, devoting 
himself, principally, to the studj' of the latin language. 

A writer* in the American Pioneer, shortly after the death 
of Mr. Doddridge, says: 

"His vigorous mind drank in knowledge with the rapidity of thought, as 
a dry sponge absorbs water. It soon became a habit with him, to exercise 
his memory in changing the conversation around him into the idiom of his 
studies; and following his father in his evening and morning devotions, he 
soon learned to render his prayers into very good latin, and to converse with 
his teacher fluently. This close application to his books, although it invig- 
orated his mental powers, yet enfeebled his body, and it became necessary, 
for awhile, to suspend his studies." 

He had an elder brother, Joseph Doddridge, who, after- 
wards became an Episcopal Clergyman, and, also, was the 
author of an interesting book, entitled : " Notes on the settle- 
ment and Indian Wars of the Western parts of Virginia and 
Pennsylvania, from the year 1763 until the year 1783, inclusive, 
together with a view of the state of society and manners of the 
first settlers of that country." The following extract from 
this work will show some of the difficulties and deprivations 

*Dr.S. P. Hildreth. 



10 BIRTH, EDUCATION, MARRIAGE, AC. 

which eurrouuded the earlier days of the subject of this 
paper: 

"The settlements on this side of the mountains commenced along the Mo- 
nongahela river, and between that river and the Laurel Kidge, in the year 
1772. In the succeeding year they reached the Ohio river. * * 

" Some of the earlier settlers took the precaution to come over the moun- 
tains in the spring, leaving their families behind, to raise a crop of corn, and 
then return and Ijring them out in the fall. This I should think was the 
better way. Others, especially those whose families were small, brought 
them with them in the spring. My father took the latter course. His family 
was but small, and he brought them all with him. The Indian meal which 
he brought over the mountain was expended six weeks too soon, so that for 
that length of time, we had to live without bread. The lean venison, and 
the breast of wild turkeys, we were taught to call bread. The flesh of the 
bear was denominated meat. This artifice did not succeed very well. After 
living in this way for some time, we became sickly, the stomach seemed to be 
always empty and tormented with a sense of hunger. I remember how nar- 
ro^yly the children watched the growth of the potato tops, pumpkin and 
squash vines, hoping from day to day to get something to answer in the place 
of bread. How delicious was the taste of the young potatoes when we got 
them. What a jubilee when we were permitted to pull the young corn for 
roasting ears. Still more so, when it had acquired sufficient hardness to be 
made into Jonny-cakcs by the aid of the tin grater. We then became healthy, 
vigorous, and contented with our situation, poor as it was. 

"My father, with a small number of his neighbors, made their .settlements 
in the spring of 1773. Though they were in a poor and destitute situation, 
they, nevertheless, lived in peace; but their traniiuility was not of long con- 
tinuance. Those most atrocious murders of the peaceable, inoffensive Indians 
at Captina and Yellow Creek, brought on the war of Lord Dunmore in the 
spring of 1774. Our little settlement then broke up. The women and chil- 
dren were removed to Morris's Fort, in Stindy Creek Glade, some distance to 
the ea.ot of Uniontown. The fort consisted of an assemblage of small hovels, 
situated on the margin nf a large and noxious mnrsh, the ellluvia of which 
gave most of the women and children the fever and ague. The men were 
compelled, by necessity, to return home, and risk the tomahawk and scalping 
knife of the Indian, in raising corn to keep their families from etarvatiou the 



BIRTH, EDUCATION, MARRIAGE, AC. 11 

succeeding winter. Those sufferings, dangers, and losses, were the tribute we 
had to pay to that thirst for blood which actuated those veteran murderers 
who brought the war upon U9." 

It is not surprising, therefore, that growing up into man- 
hood, in the midst of £uch disadvantages, dangers and diffi- 
culties, the early education of Mr. Doddridge was limited 
and imperfect — such as he would acquire from casual op- 
portunities, and by his own unaided eftbrts, exerted amid 
the struggles for the means of subsistence. That he made 
good proficiency, under the circumstances, may be inferred 
from the followins: amusing incident: 

At this early day, the principal commercial relations of 
the district of country where he lived, bordering on the 
Ohio river, were with the town of New Orleans, then under 
the dominion of Spain. The chief staples of trade from the 
section named, were flour and bacon, floated down the river 
in what were called "Kentucky," or "flat-bottomed boats." 
Young Doddridge, not yet arrived at his majority, curious 
to see something of the world, made an engagement with 
the proprietors of one of these boats to accompany them, 
partly in the character of a common laborer, and partly as 
supercargo, rendering such services in consideration of his 
passage, and support, during the voyage. Whilst the boat 
had stopped at Xatchez, where the Spanish governor then 
resided, the youthful traveler availed himself of the delay, 
to stroll about town, occasionally, to gratify his curiosity. 
During one of these rambles, he met the governor. Finding 
that neither of them understood the vernacular of the other, 
Doddridge addressed his Excellency in the Latin language, 
and was responded to in the same tongue. Surprised, that 
one so young, and, withal, so coarsely clad, could converse 
in a dead language, the governor prolonged the interview — 



12 BIRTH, EDUCATION, .MARRIAGE, iC. 

his surprise being contiiuiully augmented by the sprightli- 
ness, intelligence, and general information of the uncouth 
lad. The result was an invitation to dine at the executive 
mansion, and other flattering attentions. When the highly 
honored guest returned to the boat, he was boisterouslv sa- 
luted by the wondering crew, who, in the rude dialect 
peculiar to their class and vocation, demanded of him to 
know what it was that the "old Spanish fool'" could see in 
him worthy of such distinction. Youns: Doddridi^e tace- 
tiously replied that "It was all owing to his beauty.'' The 
point of this pleasantry consisted in the fact, that whilst he 
was, physically, strongly developed, he was by no means 
distinguished by the personal graces of an Adonis. 

After his return from Xcw Orleans, vouns: Doddridire 

procured a few elementary law-books, such as Blackstone's 

Commentaries, Bacon's Abridgement, Coke upon Littleton, 

I'C, and addressed himself to the study of the law for two 

)r three years, with little or no assistance besides his own 

esolution, industry, and genius. AVhcrc he resided during 

his period of professional preparation, and for some years 

ifterwards, we have no definite information; but on the 

24th of December, 1829, he casually remarked in a debate 

u the constitutional convention of A'irginia that: "He had 

.•esided within the district where his home now was, for 

thirty-three years." That home was Wellsburg, Brooke 

county; so that he must have settled there in 1796. And 

here he lived thenceforward until his decease. 

^ In 1799 Mr. Doddridge married Miss Juliana P. Musscr, 

of Lancaster Bennsylvania, who survived him twenty-seven 

years. vShe died at Liverpool, (Aiiton county, Illinois, in 

the year 18o9. / 

The village thus selected by Mr. l)oddridge as his place 



BIRTH, EDUCATION, MARRIAGE, &C. 13 

of residence, is pleasantly situated on the east bank of the 
Ohio river, about sixteen miles above the city of Wheeling. 
The plateau, or bottom land on which it is located, is boun- 
ded on tlie east by a [larallel range of hills, rising gently 
and gracefully to a considerable height, variegated with 
forest and lield. On the opposite side of the river, the hills 
of Ohio, more abrupt and irregular, but equally picturesque, 
crowd down nearer to the margin of the stream. It was a 
quiet but charming place for a home. Midway in tlie town 
stood the mansion last occupied by Mr. Doddridge, quite on 
the verge of the river. From the porch extending back 
from the main part of the dwelling, the river was visible for 
a considerable distance above and below. Here, toward 
the latter part of his life, lie delighted to sit in the balmy 
air of a spring day, watching the passing steamboats, then 
hardly ever out of sight, conversing with his friends, descri- 
bing the progress of the country's improvement duiing the 
previous quarter of a century, and patriotically predicting 
the grander progress still to come. Here too, in this seclu- 
ded abode, cut off from those facilities of instruction and 
information tf> which ordinary men are usuallv indebted for 
whatsoever of eminence they achieve, were developed and 
matured, those rare professional attainments and intellectual 
powers, which were to become the admiration of the Bar, 
the Bench, and the Legislative assembly. 



AT THE BAR. 



Having thus "established himself in hfe," as well as in 
the profession he had adopted, he pursued it with little in- 
termission, until the autumn of 1829. There is, as has been 
already intimated, little in the routine of the life of a mem- 
ber of the Bar, to excite the public attention. The investi- 
gation of abstruse and naked questions of law before the 
courts, or the trial of issues of fact before juries, has seldom 
much attraction beyond the limited circle of those directly 
interested in the result. This was more especially so at that 
time, which was before the era of the modern Journalist 
and Reporter. Nevertheless his growing reputation, as an 
able counsellor and advocate, soon extended beyond the 
quiet village where he resided, until he became famous in 
most of the counties of North-western Virginia. The loose 
and improvident mode of seating, and of securing patents 
for, waste and unappropriated lands, authorized by the laws 
of Virginia, and the unskilful and imperfect manner of loca- 
ting and surveying them, partly resulting from the ignorance 
of the surveyors employed, and partly from the dangerous 
presence of the Indians still lurking in the forests, when 
many of the surveys were made, had so confused and com- 
plicated the titles to lands in North-western Virginia, as 
that they became the fruitful subject of litigation of the 
most embarrassing character. Many of these tracts of land, 



16 AT THE BAR. 



of large areas, fell into the hands of minor heirs, living in 
Eastern Virginia, and others passed to non residents of the 
State; and consequently they were frequentl}' omitted from 
the assessors' books; and often the taxes due thereon, were 
not paid. This state of affairs led to a system of legislation 
imposing penalties for delinquencies for the non-payment 
of taxes, forfeiture for non-entries, kc, of the most arbitrar}-, 
artificial and technical character, resulting in still greater 
complexity and confusion. The clear, rapid, and compre- 
hensive mind of Mr. Doddridge, was peculiarly litted to 
grapple with the difKcult and diverse questions springing 
out of these circumstances; and he was largely retained as 
counsel in a majority of the counties Xorth-west of the Al- 
leghenies. He came to be acknowledged as among the first, 
if not the first lawyer in that section of the State. His prac- 
tice also extended into the State of Ohio, and into "Western 
Pennsylvania. 

In the latter State, he frequently encountered at the bar, 
those eminent lawyers, Baldwin, Ross, Kennedy, Campbell, 
McGiffin, and others, of almost equal celebrity, who were 
then in the meridian of their professional life. 

The venerable Joseph Johnson, of Bridgeport, Harrison 
county, West Virginia, late governor of Virginia, still "ling- 
ering on the shores of time,"' crowned with the lionoj's of 
a long and distinguished public life, in an interesting letter 
recently addressed to the author, says: 

" I became acquainted with Philip Doddriiipe about the year 1807, or 1808, 
wiio was then a young lawyer attending court in the town of Clarksburg, 
when lie occupied a jirominent position at the liar, and ranked among the 
most eminent counsellors of Western Virginia. Among the lirst p>olitical 
discussions I ever listened to, was one between him and Gen, J. G. Jackson, 
which occurred iu Clarksburg during the canvass which preceded the election 



AT THE BAR. 17 



of Madison to the Presidency of the United States. The former, belonged 
to what was called the Federal, and the other, to the Republican party. They 
were champions well chosen, and foemen worthy of each other's ste«l ; and it 
was appropriately styled a meeting of the Greeks." 

It was during the earlier part of his professional career, 
that a gentleman in western Penusj'lvania, becomiiig in- 
volved in an important law-suit, found that his antagonist 
had secured the services of the principal lawyers in the 
vicinity. It, therefore, became necessary to look elsewhere 
for counsel of adequate ability to meet this array of profes- 
sional talent. The gentleman went to Virginia and em- 
ployed Mr. Doddridge to assist in the defence of his case. 
When the trial came on, Mr. Doddridge seemed much in- 
disposed, resting his head on the table before him, and appa- 
rently slumbering, during the examination of the witnesses, 
and the opening argument of the plaintiff's counsel. His 
client was alarmed, and his adversary was elated. But 
when the proper time arrived, Mr. Doddridge, arousing 
himself from his seeming stupor, rose to reply; "when," 
in the language of our informant, " his accurate recollection 
of everything that had occurred, his clear statement of the 
facts and points in the case, his massive arguments, his log- 
ical conclusions, his citations of authorities, his summary of 
the evidence, and masterly exposition of the law, astonished 
the bench, the bar and the audience, reversed the scene, 
and secured a verdict for his client." 

Another anecdote connected with his practice in western 
Pennsylvania, will illustrate his power and tact as an advo- 
cate. 

A drover stopping at a tavern, was murdered and robbed. 
Circumstances pointed to the landlord, who had hitherto 
sustained an excellent character, as the party guilty of the 



18 AT THE BAR. 



crime, and he was indicted for murder. An idler about the 
premises, assumed the character of an accomplice and ac- 
cessary, and proposed to turn State's evidence, and testify 
that the landlord was the principal. The celebrated Ross, 
of Pittsburgh, Parker Campbell, and Mr. Doddridge, were 
employed in the defence, — an array of professional talent 
not often united in the same cause. In addition to circum- 
stances, which the accused was unable to explain, the testi- 
mony of this witness was explicit and positive as to his 
guilt. Against these the accused could only present a rep- 
utation of hitherto unsullied probity of character. But the 
circumstantial evidence, ami the positive testimony of this 
?clf-confe.-?e<l accomplice, were so direct and clear, that 
Uoss and Campbell, had, apparently, made no satisfactory 
impression upon the Jury. Campbell so told Mr. Doddridge, 
and appealed to him to come to the rescue. But Mr. Dod- 
dridge, leaning against the railing of the bar, in a rather 
careless attitude, addressed the jury to the following effect : 

■'May it please your Honor — gentlemen of the jury I I am not about to 
inaUc a speech, hut wisli simply to relate a fact. Down in Eastern Virginia, 
ill niy younger days, there lived a celebrated lawyer, by the name of Gabriel 
Jones. He was of the old school of Virginia gentlemen." 

Mr. Doddridge then described his cocked hat, his frilled 
shirt-l)osom and wristbands, his powdered hair, blue coat, 
white ve>t and ci'avat. silk stockings, and silver knue and 
shoe-lnickles, so vividly, that if Mi-. CJabriel Jones had been 
standing at the bar of the court, the impression of his ap- 
l>earance on the minds of the jury, could not have been 
more distinct and palpable: 

'■ Weil, gentlemen of the jury, when raiiquier county was set off, and held 
its tjrst court, .Mr. Jones went up there to attend to his professional engage- 
ments. He arrived on Sunday morning, where he found several junior mem- 



AT THE BAR. 19 



hers of the bar, who, being desirous of shewing him such attentions as might 
be agreeable to him, invited him to go and hear a celebrated, but, Bomewhat 
eccentric preacher wlio was to occupy a pulpit in town that day. Arriving 
at the door, they stood aside for their honored senior to precede them. The 
preacher had commenced his discourse ; and as Gabriel Jones walked in, he 
put his cocked hat under his arm, and reverently walked up the aisle. The 
preacher paused, and pointing his long finger toward liiin, exclaimed: 'All ! 
you old sinner with your cocked hat under your arm ; your hair not white 
enough, but you must powder it — you come into the house of God, after his 
services have commenced. 1 will appear as a witness against you in the day 
of judgment!' .Jones looked his reprover calmly in the face, and said : 
' I have no doubt you will, for in the course of a long practice, I have al- 
ways found thai the grandest rascal turned State's evidence.' " 

It is impossible to transfer tlie manner of Mr. D. to the 
page; nor is it pretended that the foregoing sketch does 
justice to the style and language of the recital. But the 
effect was electric. The jury was not only diverted by the 
anecdote, but its influence on their judgment, in connec- 
tion with the good character of the accused, bore down the 
testimony of the witness, secured an acquittal of the ac- 
cused, and saved an innocent man from an ignominious 
death. 

The physical toil of an extensive legal practice in Xorth 
Western Virginia, during the period of Mr. Doddridge's 
earlier life, was of no small magnitude. The area of most 
of the counties was large; and, consequently, the seats of 
justice were far apart. The only practicable mode of trav- 
eling between them was on horseback, over rough, and 
sometimes, precipitous roads. Nevertheless, the superior 
courts were anticipated with pleasure by the members of 
the Bar. In many instances, there was but one tavern of 
tolerable pretensions at the county seat; and here, the 
(iiteoi the profession, from the surrounding counties, formed 



20 AT THE BAR. 



ploasfint re-unions at every returning term — furnishino: op- 
portunities of great social enjoyment, that resulted in a 
liapp}' moral and intellectual inlUience on the profession. 
Often, after the adjournment of the court for the day, legal 
principles were discussed by the ]>ar; and whenever it was 
60, Mr. ])., if present, was the oracle. If, as was most 
usuallv the ease, conversation of a general character en- 
sued, he was still the central figure of the group, charming 
the whole circle by his inexhaustible treasure of wisdom, 
wit and anecdote. Here and there, you may still find, lin- 
gering among us, an old member of the bar, who deliglits 
to recur to those memorable occasions. 

He was sometimes retained in important cases in the 
Court of Appeals at Richmond, Virginia, involving the ne- 
cessity of traveling three hundred miles, or more, in the 
saddle, across the Allegheny and Blue Kidge mountains. 
He was also called to the argument of cases in the Supreme 
Court of the United States. His presence there, in 1822, 
was noticed by Mr. Justice Story, in a letter to his wife, 
dated the 28th of February of that year. It refers to such 
a "curious circumstance," relating to Mr. D., tliat it can 
hardly be deemed inappropriate to allow a place for the 
following extract : 

"A curious circumstance lias been related to me at this terra, respecting 
a gentleman now attending this court, which the melancholy a.<sociations of 
this time (the death of the celebrated Pinckney is referred to^ have brought 
to my recollection. The person to whom I refer, is Mr. Doddridge, eminent 
for his talents at the Bar. ****** About two months since, he 
was suddenly seized with an apoplexy, palsy, catalepsy, or some disease of 
tliat nature, and the powers of life .seemed entirely suspended. The physi- 
cians declared him dead, and the persons in the house proceeded to lay out 
the corpse. During all this time he says he was perfectly in his senses, hear- 
ing all that was said, but was totally unable to move a muscle, or to make 



AT THE BAR. 21 



the slightest exertion. While these things were going on, his wife thought 
she perceived a slight motion in one of his legs, the knee being drawn up. 
She supposed it an involuntary muscular motion, and on placing the limb 
down, it was again slightly moved; she was struck by the circumstance, 
raised his head high upon a pillow, rubbed him with brandy, and soon per- 
ceived a slight indication of returning life. He slowly revived, and is here 
now arguing cases. He says that the motion of his knees was voluntary ; 
aware of his situation and all its horrors, he was just able to make the 
slightest motion, and every time any one came near the bed, renewed it, until 
the motion was observed. This story is almost marvellous; but the gentle- 
man has told it himself to one of the judges, and the story has been con- 
firmed by other gentlemen well knowing the facts."* 

It appears that Mr. D., fearing a recurrence of so peril- 
ous a mistake, had instructed his family and friends never 
to bury him, liowever apparent his death might be, until 
every precaution had been exhausted to ascertain that he 
was certainly dead. He related the foregoing circumstance 
to his attending physician during his last illness, doubt- 
less, for the purpose of putting him upon his guard against 
a premature announcement of his decease.! 

It would be a tedious task to follow Mr. I), in his con- 
stant attendance upon the courts, throughout the wide 
rano-e of his practice; nor would the recital of his profes- 
sional conflicts and achievements be very interesting to the 



*Life and Letters of Joseph Story. Vol. 1., page 41.5. 

fGov. Johnson, who happened to be at Washington, and who vi.=ited Mr. 
D. a dav or two before he died, adds, in the letter referred to in a preceding 
page: '"'That, warned by this occurrence, Mr. I), had charged his friends 
not to burv him liustily when his death should occur. I stated this to the 
jihysician'who attciidid him during his sojourn in Washington, who replied 
tluit Mr. D. had made the same statement to him and others. The several 
physicians present, said there was no doubt of his death at this time; yei. 
to satisfy his absent family and friends, the large crowd assembled to attend 
his funeral, anioiii; wliumwere tlie President, Heads of Departments, <ic., di- 
persed, and re-assembled on the following day, when the burial tonk place in 
tlie congressional cemetery. I enclose<i a lock of his iinir to his family ; 
and I believe I was the only man in the city, from his district, at the time 
of his death." 



22 AT THE BAR. 



general reader. It must suffice, for this rapid sketch, to 
say, that liis reputation as a jurist and advocate, steadily 
increased as long as he lived ; and that, at the time of his 
death, there was, perhaps, no abler lawyer in the United 
States. The same writer in ihe American Pioneer, already 
quoted (Dr. S. P. Ilildreth) says: 

" Mr. Doddridge, as is well known to the early inhabitants of Western 
J'ennsylvania and Virginia, was, for many years, one of the most noted men 
in that region for his splendid talents at the Bar; and has, probably, never 
been excelled, if he has been equalled, in his discrimination in fathoming 
the depths of an intricate case, or in his powerful and logical reasoning in 
unfolding it." 

Xearly the last appearance of Mr. Doildridge at the Bar 
in Western Virginia, in a case of importance, was in Mor- 
gantown, in April, 1829. It was upon the trial of an issue 
out of chancer}', in the somewhat celebrated case of Ice vs. 
Ice, sent from Clarksbui'g to ^^onong•a]ia county to bo tried 
at the bar of the old ^Superior Court, before Judge Daniel 
Smith. Tlie issue involved the validity of certain deeds 
e.xecuted by the father of tlie litigants to the defendants ; 
and till' facts to be ascertained were, whethei-, at the time 
<»f' their execution the vendor was of sound mind and mem- 
ory, and whether they had not been procured by undue 
and coirupt intiuences, Mr. D. was of counsel for the 
plaintiff. Ills rc[iutati(Mi attracteil an immense concourse 
<i|' people, and the eomi house was tilleil with ladies and 
gentlemen. The eliaraeter of the case atforded a tine tield 
for the display of his peculiar and extraordinary abilities. 
The witnesses on both sides were numerous; and, as is 
usual in such controversies, their testimony was very con- 
llietintr. lie made no written notes either of the testimony, 
or o^ the speeches of the opposing counsel ; but not a fact 



AT THE BAR. 23 



disclosed, nor a point made in the case, escaped his atten- 
tion or his memory. His argument was comparatively 
brief; but it was brilliant, complete atid overwhelming. 
The jury returned a verdict for his client, and against the 
validity of the deeds. 

It will not be an inappropriate conclusion to this outline 
of the professional career of Mr. Doddridge, to insert here 
an extract of a letter from him to a young man who had 
received permission to read law in his office, shewing his 
manner of instructing students, and directing their course 
of Study: 

"Wellsbukg, 20th November, 1831. 
"Dear Sir: 

"I approve, highly, the course you have marked out for yourself. 
To that course, however, I would make one addition. Blackstone's Commeti- 
taries is an elementary historical work, containing as well the philosophy as 
the history of legal science, and can be studied by one acquainted with the 
Latin language, as well at any other place, as in a lawyer's office. My courso 
has been to send a Latin scholar through that book without any current a.'^sis- 
tance, directing him to keep a note-book of every thing wl)ich he does not 
perfectly understand. After the student is through that work, I explain tiio 
subject of his notes, and then put him through a close examination on every 
subject in the work, 

"No student ever spent too much time on this book, and he who wishes to 
excel, will omit nothing in it, not even what respects church and witchcraft, 
or anything else, however foreign it may seem to our institutions, manners 
and government. At this time of your life, and in the infancy of your 
experience, I cannot make you sufficiently sensible how much it adds to the 
confidence, ease and ornament of the counsellor and advocate, to be perfectly 
possessed of legal history, and to be able to connect it with the general history 
of the mother country, and the peculiar spirit of the age in which each im- 
portant change in the laws has occurred, 

" Throughout this work, words used in apposition to each other, or con- 
trasted, or by way of contradistinction, should be closely attended to. There 
is nothing about which that inimitable author has been more careful. For 



24 AT THE BAR. 



want of attention to this particular, it is as common to hear men of our pro- 
fession confounding social and natural, municipal with national, as it is to hear 
them coupling a plural nominative with a verb in the singular number. 

" I therefore advise that with the course of reading you propose, you 
take, also, these Commentaries, appropriating to the latter the morning of 
each day." 



IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. ZO 



IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 



The first important official positiou filled by Mr. Dod- 
dridge, so far as we have ascertained, was that of a meniber 
of the House of Delegates of Virginia, for the year 1815-16. 
He represented the extreme ISTorth-west point of the State — 
Brooke county. North Western Virginia was then, com- 
paratively, terra incognito ; and both its people and their po- 
litical rights found very limited recognition in the exclusive 
and aristocratic sentiment of the Tide-water and Piedmont 
districts of the State. At this time, when Virginia was 
spoken of, it meant that part of her territory lying east of 
the Blue Pud<?e, Nevertheless, the abilities of Mr. Doddridge 
commanded a respect not usually extended to members from 
his section. He was placed on the Committee on Courts of 
Justice; also, on the Committee of Finances; and during 
the session, was added to the Committee on Taxes on Lands, 
&c. The journals of the House exhibit ample evidence of 
his industry, activity and influence during the session. It 
was at this session, he commenced his opposition to the ar- 
bitrary and oligarchical principles of the then existing con- 
stitution of Virginia, which he never relaxed, until the 



26 T-V THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 

convention of 1829-30 crowned his efforts in belialf of 
popular rights with partial success. 

He was again a metuber of the House of Delesrates from 
Brooke for the yt^ar 1822—3; and was again assigned to its 
most important committees, viz: On Courts of Justice; On 
Finance: and On Schools and Colleges: and was added to 
the Committee on Roads and Internal Navigation. It is not 
often that the same member, in a body so numerous as was 
the House of Delegates is required to serve on so many 
committees at the same time. 

During this session he manifested a lively interest in the 
promotion of education, both in the University of Virginia, 
and in the primary schools. The proceedings of the Leg- 
islature shew many evidcHces of his intelligent and effective 
attention to the business of the House. An eminent mem- 
ber of the'Bar, now residing in Richmond, in a letter to the 
compiler of these notes, writes: * 

" During this session, his prominence and influence are unmistakably con- 
fipicuous as a leader, quasi primus inter pares;" and adds: "You will recall, 1 
dare say, wliat tliis means in that age of the Legislative history of Virginia. 
I think of a geniu>;, inferior to none, yet known to none, because he was from 
the distant, unknown, and, therefore, unappreciated West." 

The debates in tlie State Legislatures, at that early day, 
were rarely fully ro[)ortcd, and now ui-'arly all we know of 
them, is contained in the brief ami cursory notices of them 
found in the public journals of that day: and it is very sel- 
dom that one of these has been preserved. A few fragmen- 
tary synopses of some of the arguments made by Mr. Dod- 
dridge at tins session o\' the Legislature, have been rescued 
from the meager relics of the past; and although they are, 
evidently, very imperfect, yet they bear the impress of his 

* James Neeson, Esq. 



IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 27 



viforons mind, and have 9ornetlnn<r of the rinij of liis ineis- 
ive st3le. To save the fi>Uo\vin<]i; fragment from oblivion, it 
is recorded here at lengtli. It will shew with what compre- 
hension and pliilosophy Mr. Doddridge discussed questions 
of even secondary importance; and it will, at least, create 
a regret that we cannot liave the speech as he actually de- 
livered it. 

A Bill reducing the pay of members of the Legislature, 
being under consideration, Jan, 20th, 1823, Mr. Doddridge 
said : 

"He would take tli;it occasion to explain his opposition to the principles of 
the bill. He said, general objections to the bill were of a nature to render 
the form of tlie bill, or the time of its operation, indifferent. To what has 
been said on that part of the subject, which affects the present members of the 
Assembly, their officers and servants, he had only to say, they came here, and 
undertook the services under the law which fixed their wages; and this is a 
permanent JHW. It fixt'd their per diem allowance at four dollars. There 
may be a niiijority wlio are willing to look back and reduce the allowance 
from the commenceniotit of the session ; and contend for the right to impose 
tliison the minority. This may be just towards some, and unjust towards 
niliers. There are numbers in this House who know their labors to be worth 
four dollars per day, and may take it with a clear conscience. If there are 
olliers who know themselves to be worth less, let them, as honest men, take 
less. Jso law will compel tliem to put their hands into the Treasury and 
take that which they know they have never earned. His objections, however, 
wery to reduction, on grounds hitherto unnoticed in debate here. In every 
society there exists, and will ever exist, what may be called, as to wealth, at 
least, three estates. These are the wealthy sons of luxury and ease; those in 
more moderate circumstances, whose continued and unremitted exertions, are 
necessary for the comfortable support of themselves and families; and a third, 
the poor, without the means of public or private instruction, and for that rea- 
uon unqualified for legislative service. This middle cla.ss includes the sub- 
iitantial yeomanry of the country, the members of a laborious profession, and 
ihe vigilant mechanic; it is the marrow and backbone of the nation. One 
of tiie members from Augusta will recognize this — a truth which he will ad- 
mit and, perhaps, his own identical language ; and yet is himself a friend to 



28 IX TUE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 



reduction. Either he, or some other member, is of opinion that the friends 
of our literary chain, erred in first providing for the first and last links. The 
primary schools for the assistance of the poor and wretched, and the Univer- 
eitT for the already opulent, and the first fruit of liie literary fund ought to 
liave been expended in academies and colleges for the use of the middle 
classes. Superior wealth has its influence upon the possessor. And this, 
whether it comes by descent or speedy acquisition. Its fruits are pride and 
arrogance, with sloth and idle habits. The .sons of luxury have every adyan- 
lage in the means of the most embellished education ; but almost from the 
mother's breast, they are taught that they are not bound to look to their own 
exertions for future .support, and from the want of this stimulus to exertion, 
contract, in early life, those notions of authority and habits of idleness, that 
disqualify them for useful and active employment here. On the other hand, 
the means of reasonable education for their offspring, are in the hands of 
most of the middle class. Their sons are taught from their youth to depend 
on their own exertion. These they find to be indispensable to the support of 
themselves and families. Their lives and habits qualify them for active ser- 
vices; and they have been from all time here, what they are now, and ever 
will be, the active, useful, and laborious class in this House. Virginia has 
heretofore posses-sed a large and controlling aristocracy of wealthy familie-s. 
A powerful remnant still exists, and part of it always here. It is ever ready 
to act on the other cla.sses, nor ever wittingly yields to a growing equality. In 
the session of ISlo, this aristocracy .saw a leveling principle in the scheme of 
universal literature then under consideration; and it could not well bear the 
idea, that the public hand siumld administer to the .sons and d.aughters of 
poverty, wretchedness and misfortune, tiiose streams of instruction which 
they held for their own children in their own hands, and thus a more practi- 
cal equality siiould be introduced. To every scheme of general public 
instruction, the members of this ancient aristocracy, gave, in this House, a 
manly, able, and steady opposition; and this, the journals of that noble ses- 
Bion will prove. In the session of 18*20, an attempt like the present wa.s 
made; and then, as now, it was favored by the intluence of wealth. The 
middle class is too numerous for them, and too independent, and too incor- 
ruptible to be led. The miserable, the ignorant and dependent, would make 
them better tools. While they cannot but nspoci it, tlu'v know and feel the 
superior weight of the middle class; and it is not in nature that they can look 
upon it with mmh complacency. If ever tiny can reduce the wages so low, 
that tlie great body of the middle class caiuiot afford to serve, they will sue- 



IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 29 

ceed in reducing its numbers and influence. In the session of 1820, some of 
tliem were magnanimous enough to propose such a reduction of travelling 
wages, as almost to abolish that part of the pay. By tliis means, a member 
who lived so near as to be able to visit his family continually, and to super- 
vise his own concerns, saw in the ofier to relinquish four or five dollars for 
travelling wages, an immense boon to popularity. It is not true that the 
present wages are loo high. Gentlemen to be fit for those seats, must be men 
whose exertions at home, are worth something — men whose life and indu.stry, 
constitute the all of their families, and who by continually serving here for 
their mere expenses, are doing that which, consistently with their duties at 
home, they cannot long support. I appeal, said he, to most of the members 
of the bar, and of the agricultural classes now present, and ask them if they 
do not know, and feel the truth of these remarks? I ask them if they feel 
themselves able to serve as long as tiieir constituents wish them? and if they 
are not obliged to decline service, in order to protect, feed and clothe their 
families? If tliey answer for themselves as I know from experience they 
must, let them enquire, why will they pass this bill, and in doing so, com- 
mence a course of legislation calculated to lessen that class in whose hands 
the founders of our constitution placed the roots of power? and to bring into 
these seats an odious moneyed aristocracy ? Such must, in fact, be the conse- 
quences and tendency of unreasonable reduction. They can afford it. Their 
labor is done, and their business is supervised by others. They are able to 
make of life a frolic, and can as well spend their winters and money here as 
at any other place of enjoyment. These considerations ought to be a warning 
to the middle clas.s, to lake no measures which can have the most remote ten- 
dency to lessen their own powers and influence in this body politic. But 
there is another argunjent which forcibly addresses itself to several gentlemen 
in the House, A certain gentleman has lately written a letter intended for 
the public eye. He asserts what is obviously true, that in free governments, 
there will always be parties; and recommends the old denomination of Whig 
and Tory iis the most safe. However this may be, the 'ins and outs' will 
generally form the real parties. 

"But there is now forming a party who consider themselves the exclusive 
friends of State Rights. This party, doubtless, contains many high-minded 
and honorable men — men who really fear, and others who feign to fear, that 
the legitimate rights of State Governments are in danger. This party sees, 
or thinks it sees, in the General Government and engulphing power — a power, 
wiiich, acting through the executive, legislative and judicial branches, is qui- 



30' IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 

etly arriving at consolidation, and about to sink the State governments into 
those of prostrate corporations. This party found some of these fears in the 
decisions of the Supreme Court, in the cases of McCulloch ts. Maryland, and 
Cohens vs. Virginia. His opinions respecting tliis party was immaterial; nor 
would he express them further than to admit a doubt of some of the arguments 
in the latter case. But he would address himself to tlie exclusive friends of 
State Rights, and endeavor to convince them, that by the measure under con- 
sideration, they are accelerating the evil they would deprecate. They, by 
their parsimony, are bringing State employments into popular contempt. 
The most ignorant parts of the community can compare sums of money, and, 
by habit, learn to estimate public servants, like other agents, by their wages. 
And, therefore, the comparison of merit, or excellence, by this standard be- 
comes both a delicate and dangerous matter. The people are reconciled, and 
very justly, with the salary of the President, 25,000 dollars; yet you can 
scarcely prevail upon yourselves to give 2,900 dollars to embellish and furnish 
your Governor's palace. The salaries of the Federal Judges are placed at 
4,500 dollars; and you will draw ti;,'ht tlii' purse-strings, rather than pay a 
State Judge 2,000 dollars. And this, too, for similar services not less ardu- 
ous nor longer protracted. Surely the wliole society knows that judges in 
both governments are men who are born and educated for the same ends, 
have the same prospects of life, pressed by the same necessities — obliged to 
encounter the same necessities, and liable, at all times, to the same adverse 
or prosperous gales. The Federal Judge can live at a greater expense ; can 
support his household in a superior style; and all this passes habitually be- 
fore the eyes of the multitude. ^Vhen the people elect one of their neigh- 
bors to Congress, and anotluT to the House, although until the election, they 
ni;iy have equal talents and equal virtues, tiie mind imperceptibly draws a 
line of discrimination between them according to the difl'erent compensation 
given them. The continual practice of parsimony in the State governments, 
compared with the liberal allowance made for the same kind of Kervices, to 
the oflicers of the General Government, is calculated, by degrees, to increase 
the respect felt for the latter, in the same degree tliat it is calculated to de- 
grade the former. It would be no degradation to the present General As- 
sembly, to enquire whether the same talents and experience are now em- 
ployed in it that were constantly exhibited from the Kevolution until the 
time of the present Government of the United States, and shortly after, or 
even in the noble Assembly of 1815? If a diflerence is acknowledged, to 
what causes is that diflerence to be ascribed ? Surely, to the superior allure- 



IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 31 

ments, salaries and honors, held out and conferred by the National Govern- 
ment. "Whatever might be our opinions drawn from speculation, our experi- 
ence removes all doubt. This experience teaches us a lesson in this House 
in every session. Young members appear and serve a year or two ; until by 
habit and practice they begin to be qualified for legislation. No sooner are 
tiiey convinced of this, than State legislation becomes to them a matter of 
little importance — a dull, homely pursuit. They turn their eyes to another 
city, behold the splendor and allurements of our great National Establish- 
ment, and sigh for distinction in the National Government. We have here- 
tofore seen many of them in this Hall, voting for the reduction of the wages 
of all our public functionaries, including the pay of themselves and their 
successors here, to an humble pittance for economy's sake, at the very mo- 
ment when they are candidates for seats in the National Legislature, where 
they expect, and willingly receive, a double — nay, almost a treble compen- 
sation. Tliink you these pecuniary distinctions fall without cfl'ect on the 
l>ublic mind ? No I Like the drop that ceaselessly falls, they fall upon our 
feelings, until like that drop they wear into a stone. The gentlemen whom 
he was now in a particular manner addressing, had always feared, or affected 
to fear, the weight of National patronage. They ought to remember that 
this patronage necessarily increases with the increase of territory and popu- 
lation. Its most alluring gifts are those of foreign diplomacy. The recog- 
nition of the new South American Governments have increased these to a 
number, perhaps, equal to those in the gift of any European monarch; while 
their own system of talismanic economy furnish to the State governments no 
countervailing increase of influence ; but is calculated to degrade the State, 
and by comparison, to exalt the national authorities. Mr. Doddridge said 
lie had attempted to shew, what we all know, the existence of a moneyed aris- 
tocracy in our State; the actual hostility of that aristocracy to the equality 
which must be the fruit of every system of public instruction including the 
jioor; their consequent labors to aggrandize the University, and feeble eflbrts 
10 protect the primary system, and also, in their steady efforts to drive the 
most numerous classes of society from honorable State employment, by a mis- 
erable parsimony. If these things are apparent, the classes wlio are the vic- 
tims of this parsimony should tread cautiously in the path of State degra- 
dation." 

Mr. Doddridge was a zealous friend and persistent advo- 
cate of education — especially, of the masses — the "the sons 



32 IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 

of waut aud wretchedness," as he was apt to denominate 
them. The aristocratic hostility to such education, was 
still prevalent in Virginia; aud we have seen, in the speech 
just quoted, with what indignation he denounced this selfish 
aud anti-republican policy. At a subsequent day of this 
session, when a bill, granting a loan to the Virginia Univer- 
sity was under consideration, he ofiered an amendment to 
it, providing for the more efficient operation of the system 
of primary schools. He supported his amendment in a 
speech of characteristic force and ability, avowing his deep 
sense of the importance of popular education. He said he 
" was aware of the conflict of opinion that would ensue upon 
the amendment ofiered by him;" but he was ready to meet 
it. He said that his "conduct had shewn him as unquali- 
fied a friend of the University as any man in that House. 
But he was equally the friend of that system of education 
which embraced the poor and the. need v. And if he was to 
give succor only to one of them, he should unquestionably 
award it to the primary schools." He spoke of the impor- 
tance of elementary education to society, in its connection 
with colleges and academies, and through them, with the 
University. The whole system was intimately connected. 
The University and the primary schools were, but in fact, 
the extreme links in the same chain. The success of the 
whole, depended material!}', upon the union of the several 
parts. In conclusion, he "declared his determination not 
to vote for a cent to the University, unless something was 
done in aid of primary education." 

The constitution of \'irginia, as it then existed, contained 
no provision disfranchising persons guilty of fighting a duel. 
The progress and force of Christian civilization, had, how- 
ever, 80 far prevailed, as to secure a statutory enactment 



IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 33 



disqualifying those who should engage in this barbarous, 
and felonious practice, from holding certain offices. It 
seems, however, that not a few of the " hot bloods" of the 
State, had so disqualified themselves; and a kind of omnibus 
bill was introduced into the Legislature, relieving a consid- 
erable number of them from the penalty of the law. In 
support of this bill, its advocates had assimilated it to bills 
of amnesty, relieving those who had been engaged in civil 
war; and attempted to strengthen their appeal, by stating, 
that in some instances, the guilty act had been committed 
whilst the parties were students at college. Mr. Doddridge 
could not allow arguments so specious and fallacious to pass 
unnoticed. He said the 

"Friends of the bill, could not avail themselves of the precedents which 
have been set in the acts of amnesty, which had been extended in other 
countries to Treason. In the commotions of civil war, men were compelled 
to join either one party or the other, and that too, frequently, without the 
means of knowing which was right, or of ascertaining which was the stronger, 
or which would be successful. If, in some cases, a general act of amnesty 
were not passed, half, or probably more than half of the nation must be sac- 
rificed; when public justice would be as well satisfied by the execution of a 
tew of the principal characters. He referred to the circumstances connected 
with the insurrection in Pennsylvania, in 1794, and the principles of policy 
which induced General Washington to grant, upon certain conditions, an act 
of amnesty to the great body of the offenders. Do the applicants, he asked, 
pretend to liken their cases to that in which the numbers of the offenders, 
and the degree of public excitement were so great as to endanger the liberties 
of the country ? As well might a combination of murderers present them- 
selves, and claim to be pardoned on account of their numbers. The argu- 
ment, he said, could not avail. It had been stated that some of the offences 
had been committed at college. This, he thought, was a strong reason against 
relief. Youth do not reason far forward ; and knowing that oflTsnces commit- 
ted at college had been pardoned, would not so sensibly feel the terror of the 
law in that situation in which they would be most apt to violate it." 

3 



34 IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 

These remarks of Mr. Doddridge are valuable, not so 
much because they expose the sophistry of the reasons urged 
ill extenuation of the offence which had been committed by 
the parties seeking relief, as for the bold and emphatic 
language in which the turpitude of the otfence itself is de- 
nounced. Mr. Doddridge classifies the duelist with mur- 
derers: and this is, clearly, a proper classilication. And 
since this relic of barbarism seems to be assuming renewed 
prevalence and proportions in some sections of the country, 
it may not be amiss to briefly analyse and exhii)it its true 
cMiaractt-T. Surely death by the duel can be nothing less 
than niurdei-. The laws of tlie country — oi every civilized 
rouiitry — prohibit it. The law of (lod cDiidemns it. And 
nniie tiian this, and to leave the duelist without excuse, the 
civil laws make ample provision for the vindication of every 
man's honor and reputation. lUit he withdraws himself 
from tlu'ir protection, and voluntarily exposes his own life, 
whilst he seeks to destrov the life of another. Ordinarily, 
he is a coward, too. True courage is the oftspring of moral 
princiiilo. It cannot exist in the absence of a sense of moral 
rectitude in the bosom of the actoi-. its distinguishing 
characteristic is inflexible aillicrence to what is right, and 
nnconcpierable opposition to what is wrong. That dueling 
is wrong, every man's moral sense must testify, who has 
any moral porcejUion. Tln> attein]>t to Justify it on moral 
jM-inciples, would itsell", be an ofl'enee. rublic sentin)ent is 
appealed to by the abettors of the duel. l>ut the public 
sentiment that justifies it, or requires it, must necessarih' be 
a false sentiment. It finds no waiianty in reason, in Justice, 
or in common sense. And he who imj>erils his own lite, cr 
seeks to imbrue his hands in the blood of his fellow-being, 
lest his courage should be impeaciicd, precisely illustrates 



IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 35 



the difference between a false and true courage, and is 
guilty of moral cowardice. AVhenever his courage is in- 
spired by passion, or a spirit or motive of personal revenge, 
as is not uiifrequentl}' the case, it is, like the ferocity of the 
wild beast, simply brutal. The duelist is doubly criminal. 
He imperils two lives; and partakes largely of the character 
both of the suicide and the assassin. It is true he tights 
according to prescribed regulations, upon equal terms and 
with equal arms. But this only augments the atrocity of 
the offence, as forethought and deliberation aggravate the 
ffuilt of any other kind of homicide. The intention to 
maim or to kill, is deliberately conceived; and this consti- 
tutes the fundamental element in the crime of murder — or 
any other crime. The folly, too, of this species of mortal 
combat, is as patent as its criminality. What redress will 
the death of the offending party afford to the person ag- 
grieved, for the insult, or wrong complained of? And how 
is a man's honor vindicated, by allowing the offending party 
to shoot him down ? 

"Am 1 to set ray life upon a throw 

" Because a bear is nide and surly ? No I 

'•'A moral, sensible, well bred man, 

" ^Vili not insult rac, and no other can." 

When Hamilton met Burr, he reserved his own fire, and 
passively received the death-shot of his antagonist. He had 
the courage to refuse to take the life of his enemy; but he 
had not the courage to face the odium which a vicious pub- 
lic opinion might fix upon him, if he refused to allow his en- 
emy to destroy his life. A celebrated oflicer of the British 
arrav, who never had felt unmanly fear, and who had led the 
forlorn hope in many a desperate battle, was challenged to 
•^•mortal combat by another officer. He declined. When 



36 IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 

the challengiiin; party next met liini, he spit in his face and 
denounced him as a coward. The recipient of the base 
insult deliberately wiped otf the filthy spittle, and calmly 
said: " Could I remove the stain of your blood from my 
soul as readily as I do this insult from my face, it would not 
Ions remain unavensred." There was true courac^e. "SVash- 
ington.in an unguarded moment, insulted another, and wasi 
prostrated for it by a blow. Instead of calling his assailant 
to "the field of honor," felsely so called, he sent for him 
and made an apology. This, also, was genuine courage. 

Nothing can be plainer than that the duelist is not only a 
criminal of the deepest dye, but tliat, in nine cases out of 
ten, he is deficient in moral courage; and it is to be hoped 
that an advanced Christian civilization will soon declare him 
an out-law, and banish him, like Cain, as a vagabond from 
the pale of society. 

Shakespeare makes even a heathen utter fitting words of 

condemnation: 

'• Your words have took such pains, as if they labored 

"To bring manshiugliUr into form, set quarreling 

"Upon the head of valor; which, indeed, 

" Is valor misbegot, and came into the world 

" When sects and Mictions were but newly born : 

'' He's truly valiant that can wisely suller 

" The worst that man can breathe; and make his wrongs 

"His outsides; wear tluin like his raiment, carelessly; 

■' And ne'er prefer his injuries to his heart, 

"To bring it into danger." — Timon of Athcus, 

Mr. Doddridge suftered no appropriate occasion to pass, 
without manifesting his abhorence of this miserable custom. 
.Subsequently, in the constitutional convention of 1829-30, 
he exerted himself to secure the insertion of a clause in the 
now constitution, disqualifying persons guilty of dueling p 



IN THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 37 

from holding oflSce — remarking, that "he should consider 
it a blessing to have all doubts of a constitutional kind re- 
moved from the act, [the dueling act then existing], and to 
see the law and public opinion moving harmoniously to- 
gether." 

And again, in the House of Representatives of the Uni- 
ted States, he strongl}- rebuked certain attempts to rescue 
*'from infamy and contempt the crime of dueling — a crime 
which is, at once a violation of the laws of God and man; a 
relic of barbarous times; the refuge and resort of the base 
■coward, more frequently than the deliberate brave." — 
(Speech in the Houston case.) 

Mr. Doddridge was again elected to the House of Dele- 
gates and served during the winter of 1828-9. He was 
placed on the following important committees, viz: On 
Courts of Justice; On Finance; On Schools and Colleges; 
and On Banks. 

The freeholders of Virginia, having, in pursuance of the 
act of the previous General Assembly, voted in favor of the 
call of a convention to amend the constitution of the State, 
it became necessary to make provision at this session, for 
the election of the members of the convention, and all the 
requisite regulations for its organization. The bill intro- 
duced for this purpose, led to a protracted and animated 
discussion, in which Mr. Doddridge took an active and 
prominent part. The principles of government, disting- 
uishing the public opinion of the eastern and western 
sections of the State from each other, wliicli afterwards be- 
came the subject of the great debate in the convention, 
pressed themselves into the controversy on this bill. Look- 
ing to the future, and foreshadowing the efiort which he 



38 IX THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 

would make in the convention, to base representation upon 
the white population, and secure to the west the legislative 
power to which such a basis would entitle it, Mr. Doddridge 
offered a resolution to "take a census, or enumeration 
of the people of the commonwealth." The astute leaders 
of the dominant party, aware of the comparatively rapid 
increase of white inhabitants west of the Blue Ridge, and 
correctly comprehending the purpose of the resolution, de- 
feated it bv a vote of 105 for its ri'iection ajjainst 87 for its 
adoption. The speech made by .Mr. Doddridge on this oc- 
casion, was one of great ability. A pretty full report of it, 
may be found in TIte Richmond Enquirer, of which there is a 
tile in the Congressional Library at Washington. It is pro- 
bable that this is the only copy extant. It is said to have 
produced a profound impression on the (General Assembly, 
aiai-niing the advocates of exclusive privileges and monop- 
oly of legislative power, by the unexpected manifestation 
of arguiUL'iit and intellectual capacity, with which the west 
Would be prepared to meet them at the ensuing convention. 

The sectional excitement between the North and the South, 
wliich culminated in the nuHi{ieatii»n laws of South Carolina, 
and the consecjuent famous proclamation of President Jack- 
son, liud bcirun, already, to seriously ai^itate the countrv: 
and at this session of the Legislature of A'irginia, a series of 
resolutions, called " The Tarill' Kesolutions,"' was introduced 
)-elating to the questions which distinguished the parties to 
the conli'ovcrsy. '['he tirst o[' these was a> folKuvs: 

" liesolved, 'l"li;i[ ilic I'lUHiitiitioii of tlio I'liiiod States, being a Federal 
compact between sovereign Stales, in construing which no common arbiter 
is known, eacli State lias the rii:lit to construe the compact for itself." 

These resolutions were called up, on motion of Mr. Dod- 

dritige, who addressed the House at length iu opposition, 



IN THE VIROTNIA LEGISLATURE, 39 



especially to the one just quoted. Our researches have 
failed to discover a copy of his speech. Perhaps it was 
never published. The debate continued a week, principally 
confined to replies to Mr. Doddridge. Nor were his oppo- 
nents satisfied with these replies on the floor of the House. 
Such was the force of his arguments, that it was deemed 
necessary to review them in the public journals of the day. 

These resolutions were adopted by a vote of 134 ayes 
against 68 nays. It is hardly necessary to state that Mr. 
Doddridge's vote was recorded in the negative; for he was 
of the political school of Hamilton and Marshall, and of 
Madison too, if we are to interpret his opinions by his let- 
ters to Mr. Trist, Mr. Everett and others, explanatory of 
the purport and purpose of his celebrated report on the 
Viro-inia Resolutions of 1798-9. 

Through all the services of Mr. Doddridge in the Legis- 
lature, he kept steadily in view the primary purpose that 
induced him to accept a seat in it — namely, the amendment 
of the State constitution, so as to confer equal political and 
personal rights on the people of every section of the State. 
Nor did he confine his labors in this respect, to the Legis- 
lature; but in the intervals of his service there, he addressed 
the people from the hustings on all appropriate occasions, 
and, perhaps, exerted a greater influence in securing the 
call of the constitutional convention of 1829-30, than any 
other person in the State. 



IN THE CONVENTION. 41 



IN THE CONVENTION. 



Although Virorinia boasted that one of her sons was the 
author of The Declaration of Independence, which asserts 
the great principle of American liberty, that "all men are 
created equal;" although the Revolutionary war had been 
fought in vindication of the maxim, that "Taxation with- 
out Representation is Tyranny;" and notwithstanding the 
Bill of Rights on which she had founded her political insti- 
tutions, had distinctly announced that "all men are by na- 
ture, equally free and independent;" that "all power is 
vested in, and consequently derived from the people;" and 
that " no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or 
separate emoluments, or privileges from the community, 
but in consideration of public services," there still lingered 
even down to the period of which we are writing, in the 
Tidewater and Piedmont districts of the State, much of the 
spirit of aristocracy and oligarchy, which the colonial gen- 
try had brought over from the mother country. 

During the convention, of which we are presently to treat, 
one of its most distinguished members* spoke of the labor- 
ing classes in the western part of the State, as mere "peas- 

* Benjamin Watkins Leigh, in his speech on the basis of representation. 



42 IN TUE CONVENTION. 



aiitry'' — holding tlie "same place in political economy as 
the slaves" of the east; and contemptuously inquired, 
"What real share, so far as mind is concerned, does any 
man suppose the peasantry of the west — that peasantry, 
which it must have when the country is completely filled up 
with day-laborers as ours is of slaves — can, or will take in 
affairs of State?" 

Mr. Jeffersou had animadverted on this anti-republican 
sentiment, in terms of commcudable severity, in a letter to 
a friend in 1816. 

Referring to a draught of a constitution he had once pre- 
pared, he said: "At the birth of our Republic, I committed 
tijat opiuiou to the world, in a draught of a constitution 
annexed to the Notes on Virginia, in which a provision was 
made for a representation permanently equal. The infancy 
of the subject at that moment, and our inexpericiice of gov- 
ernment, occasioned gross departures in that draught from 
genuine republican canons. In truth, the abuses of monar- 
chy bad so filled all the spaces of political contemplation, 
that we imagined everything republican that was not mon- 
archy. AVe had not yet penetrated into the mother princi- 
ple, that 'governments are republican, only as they embody 
the will of the people and execute it." Hence our first 
constitutions had really no principle in them. Rut ex- 
perience and reflection have more and more confirmed me 
in the particular importance of the representation then 
proposed. ***** Reduce your Legislature to a 
couvenient number for full, but orderly discussion. Let 
every man who tights or pays, exercise his just and equal 
right in their election." 

For many years, the inequalities of representation, and 
the restrictions upon the right of sullVage, as regulated and 



IN THE CONVENTION. 43 



jircscTibecl by tlie coiistitntion of Virginia, had been the 
souice of bitter strife and sectional animosities, especially 
in those divisions of it lying west of the Blue Kidge. 

Yielding, at last, to the persistent demand for reform in 
these respects, the Legislature of 1828, passed an act, sub- 
mitting to the people, or rather, to the freeholders, of Vir- 
ginia, the (juestion: "Shall there be a convention to amend 
the constitution of the commonvrealth ?" The vote on this 
proposition was taken at the general election held in April 
of that year, resulting in a decisive majority in favor of it. 
And thereupon, by another act passed February 10th, 1829, 
provision was made for holding an election in the succeed- 
inof May, for four deleo-ates to the convention from each of 
the twenty-four senatorial districts of the State. At this 
election Philip Doddridge, Charles S. Morgan, Alexander 
Campbell, and Eugenius M. Wilson, were chosen from the 
district composed of the counties of Ohio, Tyler, Brooke, 
Mononjialia and Preston. 

The convention met, and was organized at the capitol in 
the city of Richmond, on the 5th day of October, 1829. A 
more august and remarkable body of men, perhaps, never 
graced the halls of a deliberative assembly. James Monroe, 
ex-president of the United States, was called to the chair. 
Before him sat James Madison, who, also, had been presi- 
dent of the United States — "the father of the constitution" 
of the nation. There also was John Marshall, Ciiief Jus- 
tice of the United States — "the illustrious expounder of the 
constitution." There, too, was Philip P. Barbour, worthy 
to succeed Mr. Monroe as president of the convention, when 
the ill health of the latter compelled him to resign. There 
was John Randolph of Roanoke, eager to hurl the shining 
shafts of his wit and invective against any one rash enough 



44 IN THE CONVENTION. 



to assail his principles, his prejudices or his passions; and 
Benjamin Watkins Leigh, the chivalrous and accomplished 
champion of the eastern aristocracy; and Abel P. Upshur, 
prompt with his metai)hysical acumen to pierce the shield 
of any unwary adversary; and Charles Fenton Mercer, of 
whom it was difficult to say whether he was most to he ad- 
mired for the qualities of his mind, or of his heart: and 
Littleton W. Tazewell, than whom, few men could bring 
greater powers of intellect into the discussions, whenever he 
saw proper to exert himself; and Chapman Johnson, who, 
though he was vehement in manner, was no less strong in 
debate, and still stronger in the moral power of his exalted 
personal character; and Edwin S. Duncan, one of the ablest 
judges of the general court; and Philip C. Pendleton, add- 
ing lustre to a name already historic; and John Tyler, af- 
terwards president of the United States; and William B. 
Giles, feeble from ill health, but strong in the reputation of 
a long and distinguished public life; and Robert Stanard, 
chosen by a district where he did not live, distinguished al- 
ready for intellectual ability, soon to be crowned with the 
highest judicial honors of the commonwealth; and Briscoe 
G. JJaldwin, rapidly rising to eminence, combining in the 
tine elements of his character the richest qualities of the 
heart with the highest mental endowments — likewise des- 
tined to adorn the supreme bench of his State: and John 
Y. Mason, bearing a venerated name, whose future career 
was to reHect honor on his country, both at home and abroad ; 
and Alfred Harrison Powell, of manly ]iersonal presence, 
of "frank ami i-efined address," an expert parliamentarian, 
and rich in intellectual lesources; :ind William Henry Cabel, 
and John W. (ireen, and subsequently John Coalter, orna- 
ments of the bench — and worth v of the ermine thev wore; 



IN THE CONVENTION. 45 



and Lewis Summers, somewhat disqualilied for forensic 
display by tiie habits of the beuch, but possessing a large 
intellect naturally judicial in its character — a capable man, 
and worthy of such associates; and Alexander Campbell, 
the eminent theologian, astute, ready, learned, able, eager 
to break a lance with any champion, — wanting experience 
only, in the new sphere in which he now appeared, to en- 
title him to be classed with the foremost men in the conven^- 
tion; and Robert B. Taylor, virtually ostracised and driven 
from the convention for his inflexible fidelity to the princi- 
ples of human liberty and equality: 

" More true joy Marcellus exiled feels, 
" Than Csesar with a Senate at his heels." 

But the roll of distinguished names is too long to be called 
through. With a juster pride than that which tilled the 
breast of the Roman matron, might Virginia have pointed 
to this assembly of her sons, as "jewels" worthy of the 
" mother of States and statesmen." It was in such a body 
of men that Mr. Doddridge t®ok his seat — men illustrious, 
in many instances, not only for the high stations of honor 
and trust which they had tilled, but for the distinguished 
manner in which they had tilled them — men of world-wide 
reputation — eminent in the measure of their intrinsic abil- 
ities, and fortified by the experience and prestige of their 
exalted oflicial positions. Mr. Doddridge came among 
them almost unheralded, unsupported by any of these ex- 
trinsic advantages; but he came to establish his right to 
rank as the intellectual peer of them all; and before the 
convention adjourned this claim was generally and gener- 
ously recognized. 

It was well understood, that the principal subjects of con- 
troversy would be the basis of representation in the legisla- 



46 IN THE CONVENTION. 



ture, and its correlative — suffrage. The ostensible plea of 
the members from the Tide-water and Piedmont districts 
was, that propert}-, to be protected, must be represented; 
that the true detiniliun of the jus majoris included the ele- 
ment of property, as well as of persons, and that in the 
apportionment of representation, regard should be had to 
population and taxation combined. This was called " The 
mixed basis." An effort \)-m\ been made in providing for the 
call of the convention, in the first place, to apportion its 
members in the several districts, according to federal num- 
bers, viz: that three-fifths of the slaves should be represen- 
ted; and the same effort was repeated in the convention, in 
the aii[)ortionnient oi representation in the legislature. 
This scheme soon became distinguished by the sobriquet — 
" Thx black basis.'" But the real purpose of these theories of 
irovernment. was the protection of slaverv. The ratio of 
white population in the Valley and Trans-Alleghany sec- 
tions of the State, where few slaves existed, over the ratio 
of white population in the eastern part of it. wliore nearly 
all the slaves were owned, had been raj>iilly increasing for 
many years; and from the contiguity of the former to the 
free States, and from the character of their industries, it was 
apprehended that the number of slaves never would greatly 
increase there; and for this reason, fears were entertained 
that if representation were apportioned upon white popula- 
tion alone, the political power would soon pass from tlie 
slave-holders into the hands of those who had no slaves, 
and that this power would be abused by oppressively taxing 
slave pro[H'rty, or, jtorhaps, in its total abolition. 

Miu'h of the success of conloinplaicd measures in delib- 
erative assemblies, often depends upon the mode of tlieir 
organization for the transaction of business, and especially. 



IN THE CONVENTION. 47 



iji the appoiutment and constitution of their committees, 
and the rules of their proceedings. Mr. Doddridge duly 
appreciated this fact; and he manifested a lively and active 
interest in the organization of the House and its commit- 
tees, and in the arrangement of their procedure. On the 
second day of the session, he introduced a series of resolu- 
tions in that behalf, which he had the satisfaction of hearins: 
substantially reported to the convention by a special com- 
mittee of twenty-four, to whom they had been referred. 

Mr. Doddridge was placed upon the committee appointed 
to consider The Legislative Department of the Government. 
Df course, the duties of this committee involved the con- 
sideration of the controverted questions of suffrage and 
representation. The committee made a report, through 
Mr. Madison, on the 24th of October, consisting of thirteen 
resolutions, largely confined to the enunciation of elemen- 
tary principles. Of these, we have the authority of Mr. 
Doddridge himself* that he was the author of the 1st, 2nd, 
•ith and 5th. The first resolution was as follows: 

"Resolved, Thai in (he apportionment of representation in the House of Del- 
egates, rec/ard should be had to white population exclusively." 

When this report was subsequently taken from the table 
for consideration, Judge Green moved to strike out the word 
''c.rclnsic((>/,'' and insert instead thereof, the words — "«/?</ 
taxation, com buied. ' ' 

This proposition brought on a most able and interesting 
debate. Judge Upshur addressed the convention through 
a great part of two days, not only in support of this pro- 
posed amendment, in particular, but in explanation of his 
views of the principles and philosophy of government in 
general. He made an able and eloquent speech, evidently 



♦Letter to M. Gay, Esq., of 30th October, 1829. 

* 



48 IN THE CONVENTION. 



tlie result of long thought, and careful preparation. Mr. 
Doddridge instantly replied to it, in an argument of signal 

abilit}', and with great eftect, according to co-teraporaneous 
notices of it. As a specimen of his style and logic, take 
the following extract: 

"The gentleman from Northampton has labored, and I am sure he thinks 
successfully, to maintain that in Virginia, the majority of free white persons 
have not the right (and he almost denies the power) to govern the State. 
This jus majoris, he says, is not derived from the law of nature; nor from 
the exigencies of society ; nor from the nature and necessities of govern- 
ment ^ nor yet from any conventional source, which can only be by express 
provision in the constitution. Argutnenti gratia, let the gentleman be right, 
and for this purpose let it be conceded, that the majority could only derive 
this right, if at all, from some one of these repudiated sources. His conclu- 
sion, then, is, that a majority of freemen in this free land are not possessed 
of the right or power to govern. But government there must be, or instantly 
we sink into anarchy. Pray, whence, then, does the gentleman derive the 
power in question to the minority?" 

Again : — " We have often heard tiiat wealtii gives power, or, that wealth 
itself is power. By this axiom I suppose is meant nothing more tiian the 
natural and moral influence which wealth gives to the possessor, by increas- 
ing his means of doing good or evil. Whenever power is directly conferred 
on wealth by government, the additional power thus conferred is a corrupt 
one. It is a privilege conferred contrary to the Bill of Rights, because not 
conferred for merit or ptiblic services. It is, too, an exclusiiv privilege in its 
^erv nature. It is an immoral distinction that is conferred, because it makes 
no discrimination between the pos.sessors of estates honestly acquired, and 
those of ill-gotten stores." 

The debate on Judge Green's amendment was continued 
for several weeks. An abler one is, perhaps, not to be 
found in parliamentary annals. The argument of Mr. Dod- 
dridge, although comparatively brief, was not surpassed in 
vigor, logic, or intellectual force l)y any other. Before a 
decision was reached upon the question, it was laid aside; 
and the convention passed to the consideration of the right 



IN THE CONVENTION. 49 



of suffrage. An animated discussion ensued upon this 
topic, in which most of the leading members of the body 
participated — Mr. Doddridge among them. The commit- 
tee on the Legislative Department of the Government had 
reported a resolution providing for a freehold, or a recorded 
leasehold for a terra of five years, as a necessary qualifica- 
tion in each voter. The general sentiment of the eastern 
members was in favor of some such qualification. The 
general sentiment of the western members was, practically, 
in favor of what was called universal suffrage. Several 
amendments had been offered to the plan reported by the 
committee, and had been rejected by the convention, when 
Mr. Doddridge proposed the following: 

"And shall be extended to every free white male citizen, aged twenty-one 
years, or upwards, who shall have resided at least one whole year in tiie 
county, city, borough, or district, in which he shall offer to vote, immediately 
preceding the time of voting; and who, during that period, shall actually 
have paid a revenue tax legally assessed — and to every free white male citi- 
zen, aged twenty-one years or upwards, who shall actually have resided at 
least one whole year in the county, city, borough, or district where he offers 
to vote; and who, for the period of six months, at least, shall have been an 
housekeeper therein." 

It is evident from the remarks made by Mr. Doddridge 
when he offered this amendment, that it (li<l not embody, 
exactly, his personal judgment of what should be the 
proper extent of suffrage ; but restricted it more than he 
would have required, if the matter had been left to his own 
free determination. 

His speech upon this amendment was distinguished by 
his usual ability. An extract or two will indicate its 
character. 

Mr. Leigh had complained that the epithets — aristo- 

- crats, and oligarchs — had been opprobiously applied to 
4 



50 IN THE CONVENTION. 



those who opposed the extensiou of suftrage. Mr. Dod- 
dridge said ; — 

"The gentleman from Chesterfield says he has so far forgotten his Greek as 
not to remember these terms in that language, and he only knows their 
meaning in good old English, and not in the modern dialect of that tongue. 
I will in that dialect explain my meaning of both terms. They are, in fact, 
synonymou.s. Each of these terms is descriptive of a government whose pow- 
ers are vested in a minority. A government thus described is contradisting- 
uished from a monarchy, or a government in the hands of one man, and from 
ft pure democracy in the hands of every man. By government in the hands 
of a few, we do not mean a small, select few. Few and many, as the gentle- 
man from Chesterfield says, are relative terms. In their just sense, they are 
equivalent with the terms majority and minority. In this sense I use them. 
\ government, to be an aristocracy, or oligarchy, is not, necessarily, one in 
which power is acquired by descent or patent. This is the sense in which I 
use the terms; and if 1 am correct, to constitute a statesman an aristocrat, or 
oligarch, it is only neces.sary that he should be one of tho.se holding and ex- 
ercising the power of the few over the many — of the minority over the 
majority." 

Replying to the clamor of those who alleged that the ef- 
forts of the friends of extended snflrago were revolutionary 
in their charactiM- and tendencies, leading to the subversion 
of tlie peace and order of society, he said: — 

"What we contemplate is not revolution. The government is an elective 
republic, and we mean to leave it .«o. Yet we are warned of the dangers and 
liorrors of revolutiim. Kevolution.s, it is said, never stop at the objects first 
had in view, but the ball once set in motion, goes downward on the road to 
anarchy or despotism, and never stops. One false step can never be recalled ; 
the descent to ruin is easy, but to return diflicult, if not impossible: hoc opu^, 
hie labor «'.>^^ Could we forget where we are, and listen to the speeches of gen- 
ilcmen in opposition, we should forget the business we are engaged in; we 
slumld iningine we were li.'stening to Burke on tlu- French Revolution. All 
llio horrors of that voUano are set before us, as if, in our madness, we were 
ready to plunge into it. Wo are likened to the priests of France in the last 
age; we are called fanati&s, dreamers, aiul oven drivelers, by gentlemen of 
ilii:) citv; the history of the ancient republics is invoked to alarm us; at one 



IN THE CONVENTION. 51 



time it is said that each of those perished, when suffrage was made general, 
and governments established on the rights of numbers. "With much more 
truth, we are again told that these republics, with all their temporary govern- 
ments, have fallen, without leaving in their history anything for our instruc- 
tion. The truth is, that neither in antiquity, nor in the agee succeeding the 
fall of Rome, were there any governments formed on our model; not one. 
Before ours, there never existed one government in the world, in which the 
whole power was vested in the people and exercised by them through their 
representatives; in which powers were divided between separate and distinct 
bodies of magistracy, and in which no nobility or privileged order existed. It 
is in vain, therefore, that we are incessantly lectured like schoolboys about 
the republics of Greece, Sparta, La;cedamon, Rome and Carthage. In our 
sense of the term, in the Virginia sense of it, neither of these was a Republic. 
Thev have perished, indeed, as all others of the same age have done, some in 
war and conquests, some by one cause and some by another. Perhaps among 
the inscrutable decrees of Providence, there is one by which all governments, 
like the men composing them, are to have a beginning, a maturity, and an 
end." 

Referring to the tenacity with which men vested with 
power always cling to it, and the opposition which they in- 
variably make to progress and reform, he remarked : — 

" Mr. Chairman, what do we hear on this occasion, more than the alarm- 
ing predictions, melancholy forebodings and evil auguries usual on every 
question of reform ? When were men in power ever ready to reform ? 
When did they yield power except to force or fear? We have lived to see 
Catholic Emancipation in Ireland, after many attempts to accomplish that 
measure. On each of these occasions the ministers answered according to 
custom ; sometimes that the country was at war with PVance, or the whole 
continent; sometimes the Christian religion was in danger; and at others, 
that reform would jeopardize both church and State. Their predictions were 
never more gloomy and fearful than on the eve of Catholic Emancipation. 
They were of precisely the same nature, and of the same justice, with those 
of our opponents here. The Catholics are emancipated, and England has 
gained strength by that act of justice. By a similar act of political era.anci- 
pation, Virginia will increase her strength and happiness, notwithstanding 
the forebodings of men about to part with power." 



52 IN THE CONVENTION. 



When the debate was resumed on the basis of represen- 
tation, sectional feelings had begun to develop themselves 
with much vehemence in the convention; and the cham- 
[lions of tlie eastern aristocracy, repulsed on the field of 
argument, began to sound the tocsin of alarm, which they 
so well knew how to do, and to utter anirrv menaces, in or- 
dor to terrify the friends of popular rights into submission. 
Mr. Doddridge had satisfied them that they could hope for 
no advantage in fair discussion of principles; and now he 
was to shew them that in moral and political courage he 
was also their equal. He met their assaults with his usual 
courtes}-, indeed, but with a promptness and firmness which 
left no room for misapprehension. In reply to Mr. Leigh 
and Mr. Kandolph, he said : — 

''The gentleman from Cliesterfield, in his first argument on the basis, de- 
clared that a government in this Slate, founded on the right of numbers 
of white population, would be such a cruel, iiitolcralile and insupportaljle 
tyranny as no man ever did, could or would submit to. About seventy hours 
eince, and again to-day, that gentleman has repeated this declaration. Such, 
then, is the deliberate judgment of that gentleman. The gentlem.in from 
Charlotte (Mr. Randolpli I wiili equal candor declared yesterday, that any 
constitution which would establish in the House of Delegates the basis of 
free white numbers would be a Jacobinical government (<> which he never 
could submit. Those gentlemen occupy, and deservedly, a large space in 
this Ilonse, and in public opinion. On this ground, the latter gentleman, 
planted his slafl' and nailed his flag. As I view things, gentlemen have a 
right to maintain as they do, that our doctrines tend to anarchy, despotism 
or Jacobinism, and to support their opinions by fair argument; in doing so 
they give no cause of personal offence. On the other hand 1 have a right to 
maintain, lliat tluir doctrines go to build up an oligarchy of wealth. Here, 
then, we stand on equal ground. In the same spirit of frankne.<5S, that an- 
inuates the gentleman froni ("harlotte, I now s.ay, and for the last time, 
that vielding us the free white ha =is in the House of Delegates, with 
u new apportionment of representation alter the no.\t censu.s, and pe- 
riodical cnumeiatiuns and apport'onment.s, I will yield the Federal 



IN TIIK CONVENTION. 53 



numbers in the Senate. Further tlian this I will never go, and here 
I nail my flag." 

So completely had the arguments of Mr. Doddridge, and 
those who concuiTod with him, met the theories of repre- 
sentation maintained bj' the eastern aristoerac}', that they, 
at last practically, abandoned all their avowed principles 
in that bclnlf, and by a kind of cou]) de main, constituted 
both branches of the legislature by an arbitrary apportion- 
ment in the four geographical divisions of tlie State, corres- 
ponding neither with white population, federal numbers, or 
population and taxation combined; ordaining that the 
House of Delegates should consist of thirty-one delegates 
to be chosen for and bv the twentv-six counties Iving: west 
of the Alleghany Mountains; twenty-five for and by the 
fourteen counties lying between the Alleghany and Blue 
Ridge of Mountains; forty-two for and by the twenty-nine 
counties lying east of the Blue Ridge Mountain above tide- 
water; and thirty-six for and by the counties, cities, towns 
and boroughs lying upon tide-water; and that the Senate 
should consist of nineteen members east of the Bine Ridge, 
and thirteen west thereof. It was further ordained that in 
the year 1841, and every ten years thereafter, the legislature 
should reapportion the representation in these counties, 
cities, towns and boroughs, but that such reapportionment 
should not increase the number of delcfjates and senators 
in any of the respective geographical divisions aforesaid; 
excepting, that after the year 1841, the General Assembly 
should have authority, ttco-tJdrds of hotlt ILmscs coitcuriu/K/, 
to make periodical rea[tportionments of delegates and sena- 
tors throughout the commonwealth, so that tlie number of 
the former should never exceed 150, nor of the latter 30. 
For this restriction, requiring the concurrent assent of two- 



IN THE CONVENTION. 



thirds of each House, Mr. Madison was principally respon- 
sible. The purpose from the beginning, of the dominant 
party in the convention, was, to retain the political power 
east of the Blue Ridge; and this arrangement accomplished 
it as effectually as organic law could do it. 

Mr. Doddridge exerted himself to secure a clause in the 
constitution providing for its future amendment, through 
the assembling of another convention, or in some other 
proper and practicable mode. But even this poor conces- 
sion was refused. But all the barriers thus interposed to 
arrest the progress of popular liberty have fallen; equality 
of rights has triumphed at last; and now the public senti- 
ment and the fundamental laws, not onlv of Eastern Vir- 
ginia, but of all the States, are in advance even of the prin- 
ciples maintained by Mr. Doddridge and his coadjutors, 
then so bitterly assailed as Jacobinical and revolutionary. 

It would involve too many details and extend this sketch 
beyond the limits prescribed to it, to follow Mr. Doddridge 
through all his vigilant and active participation in the pro- 
ceedinss of the convention. SufRco it to sav, that there was 
no question of importance before it, which did not receive 
iiis careful attention, and to the consideration of wiiich, he 
did not bring an intelligence and comprehension which 
commanded the respect and admiration of tlie entire House. 

A cursory reference to his ojiinioiis and speeches upon 
topics and propositions before the convention, is all that 
may be permitted. 

Mr. Doddridge placed great stress upon an independent 
Judiciary; and regarded the tenure (puimdiu sc boic gesserit 
as indispensable. " I pray," said he, " that we, and our pos- 
terity to remotest time, may never be weak enough to part 
with this surest, greatest sheet-anchor of every free state." 



IN THE CONVENTION. 55 



The objection to this life tenure, has always been, the diffi- 
culty of uniting with it a proper and efficient sense of re- 
sponsibility — to leave the judge perfectly free to do right 
according to the unbiased dictates of an upright and honest 
judgment, and, at the same time, to place him under such a 
sense of accountability as will deter him from doing wrong, 
if he were so inclined. Influenced by this consideration, 
principally, the modern practice and polic}' of the several 
States, have been to limit the judicial office to a fixed term 
of years. Whether any justly compensating advantage has 
been secured, is still a problem which experience has not 
satisfactorily solved beyond a reasonable doubt; and it must 
be acknowledged that there is, to some extent, a reaction in 
the public opinion against the experiment. 

Upon the oft-mooted question whether ministers of the 
gospel should be eligible to seats in the legislature, he said : 
"The resolution is, that a man's religious opinions shall not 
affect his civil capacities; but the proviso declares that those 
opinions uttered in the pulpit shall affect his civil capacities 
even to disfranchisement. At the jpolls, he should probably 
act with the gentleman; but why tie up the hands of the 
people?" 

He was in favor of electing the Governor by the people; 
taking the ground of Mr. Jefferson, that an executive ap- 
pointed by the legislature made him, in fact, an emanation 
of the legislative power; and was, therefore, a violation of 
the fundamental principle, that the legislative, executive 
and judiciary departments of the goverment should be kept 
distinct, separate, and independent of each other. 

Whilst not going so far, at that time, as to propose a total 
abolition of the county courts, because he did not know 
what were the wishes of his constituents in that behalf, he 



56 IN THE CONVENTION. 



vet insisted that they ought not to be so constituted as to be 
independent of the legislative will, and above that will; but 
that the General Assenibl}' ought to have power to abolish 
them if the people and the interests of jurisprudence should 
require it to be done. The wisdom of this opinion was af- 
terwards vindicated in the fact, that one of the principal 
causes leadincr to the call of the constitutional convention of 
1850-51, was the public dissatisfaction with the county 
courts. In this, it is not improbable, that history will repeat 
itself in West Virginia. 

The convention had now nearly completed its labors, and 
had agreed upon the fundamental principles which they 
proposed to incorporate in the new form of government; 
but these were contained in detached, distinct, and uncon- 
nected propositions and resolutions, adopted at dift'erent 
times during the session. It now became necessary, not 
only to classify and arrange them in their proper order, but 
also to give expression to them witii the precision of lan- 
guage, perspicuity of style, and freedom from redundant 
verbiage, essential to the perfection of organic law. This 
was a delicate and diflicult task. A select committee was 
appointed to perform it. It was a most flattering mark of 
the confidence of that illustrious body of men, and of their 
high a])preciation of his qualification for so important a duty, 
that Mr. Doddridge was placed at the head of that commit- 
tee, the other members of which, were Messrs. Madison, 
Marsluill, Leigh, Johnson, Tazewell and Cooke; and it was 
more especially so, as it was known that the new constitu- 
tion was to be of sncli a character, as when it should be 
com}.lcte(l, Mr. hoddridge could not vote for it. 

it has already been stated, that it was Mr. Madison, who, 
from the Committee on the Legislative Department of the 



IN THE CONVENTION. 57 



Government, reported to the convention the resolution that 
representation in the House of J)c]cgutes sljouid be based 
upon white popuhition exehisivcly. The members from 
the western part of the State liad entertained strong hopes 
tliat tliis proposition would prevail; but in an evil hour, 
Mr. Cooke, one of the original champions of tiie principle 
enunciated in the resolution, abandoned its support, on the 
grounds tliat it was impracticable to sustain it in the 
convention, and allied himself to the friends of the "mixed 
basis." Mr. Madison, if he did not exactly follow this ex- 
ample, relaxed his adherence to the proposition, and signi- 
fied a willingness to compromise with its opponents. This 
was tlje occasion of bitter chagrin to Mr. Doddridge, who, 
it seems, animadverted with considerable feeling and sever- 
ity upon the unexpected defection. Several years after- 
wards, Mr. Madison wrote to Mr. Doddridge in reference 
to the motives which influenced him to pursue the course 
he did. It is, perhaps, but an act of justice in this connec- 
tion, to allow Mr. Madison to make his own explanation: 

"If I were in an ill-humor with yon," Mr. Madison writes, "which I 
am not, and never was, I might here advert to a misconstruction, which, in 
your controversy with Mr. Cooke, you put on the amendment I proposed in 
our late convention authorizing the legislature, two-thirds of each house con- 
curring, to re-aj'jortion the representation as inequalities might, from time 
to tim'% require. My motive, I am conscious, was pure, and the object I 
^till think proper. The right of sufirage, and the rule of apportionment of 
representation are fundamentals in a free government, and ought not to be 
submitted to legislative discretion. The former had been fixed by the con- 
stitution, but every attempt to provide a constitutional rule for the latter 
had failed, and of course no remedies could be applied for the greatest in- 
equalities without a convention, at which the general feeling seemed to re- 
volt. In this alternative, it appeared the lesser evil to give the power of re- 
dress to the legislature, controlling its discretion by requiring a concurrence 
of two-thirds instead of a mere majority." 



58 IX THE CONVENTION. 



Of the whole number of illustrious men wlio composed 
the convention, only three remain alive at this time — Mark 
Alexander, of Mecklenburg, Samuel McDowell Moore, of 
Rockbridge,* and Hugh Blair Grigsby, of Edgehill, near 
Charlotte Court-house. In 1853, Mr. Grigsby delivered a 
most eloquent discourse before the Virginia Historical So- 
ciety at Richmond, entitled "The Virginia Convention of 
1829—30," in which he has furnished a lively portraiture of 
its distinofuished members. Amono-st others, Mr. Doddridije 
lias boon honored with an appreciative tribute of his grace- 
ful pen. It will afibrd an appropriate conclusion to this 
sketch of Mr. Doddridge's participation in the proceedings 
of that memorable assembly : 



"Wilh all who are conversant with the legislative history of the State, 
the name of Philip Doddridge has long been familiar. Perhaps, to him more 
than to any other man living, disconnected from the public press, the con- 
vention then sitting owed its existence. As early a.s 181G, with Smythe and 
Mercer, he had fought the battle in the House of Delegates with success, but 
his favorite measure was defeated in the Senate. Then, and not till then, did 
he approve the passage of the bill re-arranging the senatorial districts on the 
ba-sis of wliito population. Although he never entirely forgave the Ea.«t be- 
cause the districts were re-arranged on the census of ISIO, and for the loss of 
a fraction of population which he thought was due to the West, he was can- 
did and generous in his appreciation of the talents displayed by his oppo- 
nents on that occasion ; and often, in private, and more than once in de- 
bate, spoke of the arguments of Tazewell in reply to General Smythe on the 
convention-bill of that session as by far the ablest he had ever heard in a de- 
liberative assembly. A member of the House of Delegates, at intervals, 
through a long tract of time, ho was in that biniy during the session of 
1828-9, when the bill calling the existing convention became a law, and sus- 
tained it with a masterly speech. It may not bo unjust to tho living or the 
dead, to affirm that of all the distinguished reprosentativcs from beyond the 
Kidge he held the first place in the ostiniation of the West. There his early 
history was known ; there his line talents brought forth their first fruits; and 

* Mr. Moore hxs died since the above was written. 



IN THE CONVENTION. 59 



there was the theatre in which his greatest forensic efforts were made. There 
was something, too, in the fortunes of a friendless youth, who, with no aid 
but his own untiring spirit, winning his way to the highest distinction, yet 
retaining to the last the simple manners of early years, which appeals to the 
best feelings of the human heart everywhere. The people of the West knew 
and loved the man, but they had known and loved the boy. The inter- 
view of the young Doddridge, chubby, sunburnt, ungainly, and in his boat- 
man's garb, with the haughty governor of the Spanish Territory on the 
Mississippi — neither understanding the native language of the other, but 
conversing in bastard Latin which the youth had picked up while his fel- 
lows were pinking squirrels out of the tree-tops of the yet unbroken forests 
of the West, would form a suggestive picture, which I hope the brush of 
some Western son of genius will commit to canvass for the admiration of fu- 
ture times. Well and worthily did he requite the affection of the West. 
Not only in his great speech on the basis question, when the hope of triumph 
was bright before him, but afterwards, when his plans were thwarted, did he 
strive to secure the great object of his mission. As a speaker he had many 
great qualities — readiness, fluency, and an unlimited command of all the 
logic, and, what was of great importance in that body, of all tlie statistics of 
his case. Irascible even, and prompt to take offence where offence was in- 
tended, he was distinguished for great courtesy in debate ; — a trait so dis- 
tinctly marked as to call forth the pointed acknowedgement of Kandolph. 
Whether he prepared himself for the occasion, I cannot say — for the whole 
subject had been the study of years — but in the great debate on the basis, 
and in the innumerable ones which would suddenly spring up, he was a 
gushing fountain of facts and figures. He had none of the ordinary graces 
of a speaker about him. His voice seemed to come from his throat, and had 
no freedom of play. He was low and broad in stature ; his features were 
heavy, though to a close observer they might bespeak a great mind in re- 
pose; and in his dress he was a ve?-y sloven. Indeed, his form and dress, 
even his position in the Convention, as well as the powers of his great mind, 
are foreshadowed by Horace in his third satire as faithfully as if the Tiber 
and the Yohogany were sister streams : 

"Iracundior est paulo, minxis aptus acutis 
Naribm honim hominum ; rideri possit en, quod 
Jtuslicius ionao toga defluit, ei male laxus 
In pede calceus hceret: at est bonus, ut vielior vir 
Non alius quisqam, at iibi amicus, at ingenium ingens 
Jnculto latel hoc sub co^-pore." 



60 IN THE CONVENTIOX. 



This estimate of Mr. Doddridge must be tlie more highly 
appreciated, since it is made, not only b}- a competent eye- 
witness of his participation in the proceedings of the con- 
vention, l)Ut, also, by one who was in direct antagonism of 
opinion from him upon the great questions which agitated 
the body — a witness, however, too generous and magnani- 
mous to permit a difference of opinion to withhold the ad- 
miration justly due to exalted abilities. Xor lias the lapse 
of time, and the consequent sobriety of age and reflection, 
abated the measure of Mr. Grisrsbv's admiration; for in a 
recent letter, addressed to Hon. Charles James Faulkner, 
he writes of Mr. Doddridge: 

"I knew him with some degree of intimacy, such a^ miglu exist between 
a man of fifty and a youth of two and twenty; and I was specially impressed 
by the goodness of his heart, by his generous feelings, by his liberal estima- 
tion of the genius and abilities of his most formidable rivals, as I also was 
in his public exhibitions of his own wonderful powci^. I was with him both 
in the House of Delegates and in the Convention of 1829-30, heard all that 
he uttered in both bodies, and particularly in the legislative committee of the 
Convention, and in each and all of his efforts I was struck with his eminent 
skill in debate, with the wealth of his resources, and with his great powers of 
argumentation. In society he was always gentle and courteous, following 
rather than leading the stream of talk, and delighted us all liv the rapid 
course of his speech, and by the wisdom of his discourse. Though a federal- 
ist and an extreme upholder of the doctrines of the west when the passions 
were running high, he not only did not undervalue the fine qualities of his 
political opponents in State and federal politics, but pronounceil on a distin- 
guished opponent one of the finest compliments ever paid by one man of 
genius to another. I deeply deplored his death, and hold his memory in the 
highest reverence." 



IN CONGRESS — DEATH, &C. 61 



IN CONGRESS—DEATH, &C. 



In 1823, Mr. Doddridge was a candidate for a seat in the 
House of Representatives of the United States, from what 
was called the Wheeling District of Virginia. At that time, 
TJie election was held, and continued, on the first dav of the 
county courts of the respective counties composing the dis- 
trict, during the entire month of April. There were, that 
year, five competitors for the position; all of whom ap- 
peared on the hustings at Wheeling on the first Monday of 
April, and addressed the people, according to the custom 
])revailing in \'irginia. It soon became apparent, however, 
that the contest was, in fact, between Mr. Doddridge, and 
.loseph Johnson, esq., of Harrison county, who siill survives, 
who had served with Mr. Doddridge in the Legislature of 
\'irginia, and who was then just fairly entering upon his 
long career of public life; and on the second Monday, all 
the candidates retired from the canvas, excepting Mr. Dod- 
dridge and Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson was one of the most 
popular and eliective speakers who ever appeared on the 
l)ustins:s in Western Vir£cinia. He also had the advantage of 
belonging to the dominant party; and when the voting was 



62 IN CONGRESS — DEATH, AC. 

concluded on the last Monday of the month, it appeared 
that Mr. Doddridge was defeated, notwithstanding his ac- 
knowledged peerless abilities. In 1825 Mr. Doddridge and 
Mr. Johnson were again opposing candidates for the same 
position, and with the same result. In 1829, they were a 
third time competitors, when Mr. Doddridge, after an ani- 
mated canvas, was successful. 

His duties as a member of the Virginia Convention de- 
tained him in that body until its adjournment on the loth 
of January, 1830; so that he did not take his seat in the 
Congress until after that time. He found himself still sur- 
rounded by several of the distinguished men of Virginia, 
some of whom had served with him in the convention. 
Among them, were Philip P. Barbour, William F. Gordon 
and Charles Fenton Mercer ; and with them John S. Barbour, 
William S. Archer, and Andrew Stevenson. His reputa- 
tion, acquired in the convention, had preceded him; and 
he at once occupied an intellectual rank equal to that of any 
of his eminent colleagues, and hardly second to any member 
of the House. Especially was this so, upon all questions 
involving the discussion of legal and constitutional princi- 
ples. Soon his assiduous, intelligent, and effective atten- 
tion to the business referred to the committees to which he 
had been assigned, attracted the notice, and commanded 
the confidence, of his associates. He did not often address 
the House; but when he did so, he uniformly conlined his 
remarks to the distinct question before it, speaking with 
brevity and perspicuity as well as pertinency. As a conse- 
quence, he was listened to with a respectful attention, not 
often accorded to each other, by the members of that tu- 
multuous assembly, and commanded the confidence and in- 
fluence to which his talents entitled him. llis personal 



IN CONGRESS — DEATH, &C. 63 



bearing, too, toward his fellow members, as it always had 
been toward opposing counsel at the bar, was in the best 
style of manly courtesy. And yet, when the occasion jus- 
tified it, he could retort with great severity — all the more 
severe and pungent, because his retort was free from vul- 
garity and violence, A characteristic instance may be found 
in a reply he made to an ungenerous impeachment of his 
motives bv a member from North Carolina, in debatins: a 
proposition to reduce the duty on salt. This reply will also 
shew his reverence for the Bible, and his abhorrence of the 
flippancy and levity with which public speakers sometimes 
bandy phrases and quotations from the sacred volume: 

"I feel," said Mr. Doddridge, "compelled to take a respectful notice of the 
remarks of the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Barringer) in relation 
to my vote yesterday evening, and my motion to-day, which has given rise to 
the present discussion. The gentleman has made allusion to the treason and 
kiss of Judas. I am at a loss to know whether he meant to be witty or satir- 
ical. If wit was his object, he failed ; for I could not see that a single smile 
was elicited in the hall. Should I presume, as that gentleman did, to offer an 
advice not asked for, I would say, that whenever he attempts to extract his 
sallies of wit from a record the most awful and instructive that the mind of 
man can contemplate, he will exhibit himself in bad taste before a Christian 
audience. But if satire was intended, and the gentleman meant both to assail 
me, and at the same time to give us a sample of his magnanimity, he was 
signally successful. Having cast his arrow across the hall at me, he most 
magnanimously demanded the previous question; which would shut my 
mouth from this explanation, and from a reply." 

On his return home after the adjournment of the first 
session of the '2l9t Congress, he was received by his constit- 
uents with great respect and enthusiasm. His manly and 
brilliant vindication of popular rights in the convention, 
had endeared him to the hearts of the people throughout 
the entire north-western section of the State. A public 



G4 IN CONGRESS — DEATH, AC. 



dinner was tendered to, and accepted by, him, at the Ma- 
sonic Hall in AVbeeline:, on Saturday, the 3rd of July, at 
which Xoah Zane, esq., presided, supported by other prom- 
inent citizens as vice-presidents. Two hundred and thir- 
teen guests sat down to the table. Wheresoever he appeared, 
lie was the cynosure of all eyes. Sometimes men become 
suddenh' popular, when no substantial grounds can be as- 
signed for it — a kind of passionate, unreasoning excitement, 
subsiding with equal rapidity, like the mountain torrent 
after a storm. But the admiration of Mr. Doddridire was 
an intellectual one, having its source in the judgment of 
the people, resting upon the basis of unquestioned and un- 
questionable abilities, and supported by important services 
actually rendered. 

Although the proceedings of Congress do not show that 
^^r. Doddridge often participated in the discussions on the 
floor of the House, his name is prominent in its journals, in 
connection with the actual business of the country before 
it. When, however, occasion required, he made his voice 
potential. He always entertained the highest regard for 
the Judiciary Department of the government; and was 
ever on the alert to vindicate and protect it from encroach- 
ment by the co-ordinate branches. He considered that the 
Supreme Court of the United States was, after all, the 
sheet-anchor of the constitution, and of the federal union. 
And when an eilort was made in 1831, in the interest of 
those sectional antipathies which, afterwards, culminated in 
flagrant rebellion, [o repeal the 25th section of the judiciai-y 
act of 1780, he startled the House by the dechiration that 
the proposition to do so was incipient treason. During the 
debate in relation to it, he re-iterated the avowal, remark- 
ing "that niueh had been said, and many allusions had 



IN CONGRESS — DEATH, AC. G5 



been made to an expression of his on a former occasion, 
that he considered the proposition to repeal the 2oth section 
of the judiciary act, as equivalent to a motion to dissolve 
the Union. Such," said Mr. Doddridge, "is my opinion. 
It is my opinion, and I hope no angry feelings will be pro- 
duced by my avowing it." 

It mav not be uninterestine: in this connection, to advert 
to the controverted question — who was the author of the 
Judiciary act of 1789? It had been generally attributed to 
the pen of Mr. Madison. Mr. Doddridge, in a subsequent 
discussion upon another subject, had said : "We, in Virginia, 
have understood Mr. Madison to be the penman. If this 
is an historical error, I would like to be informed; if it is 
not, the foreseeing of the necessity of making such a pro- 
vision, at that time, is but another proof of the great sagac- 
ity of the late president, Mr. Madison." This remark hav- 
ins: attracted the attention of Mr. Madison, he wrote to Mr. 
Doddridge, under date of January 6th, 1832, as follows: 

" The bill originated in the Senate, of which I was not a member, and was 
understood, truly I believe, to have proceeded from Mr. Ellsworth, availing 
liimself, as may be presumed, of consultations with some of his most enlight- 
ened colleagues." He adds: "Those who object to the control given to the 
Supreme Court of the United States over the State Courts, ought to furnish 
some equivalent mode of preventing a State government from annulling the 
laws of the United States, through its judiciary department, the annulment 
liaving the same anarchical effect, as if brought about through either of its 
other departments." * 

Few members, if any, in the 2l9t Congress, when it ex- 
pired, left the halls of the Capitol with a higher reputation 
for all the qualities of an able representative, than Mr. 
Doddridge; and he was re-elected without opposition. Some 
of his eminent colleagues of the previous Congress were not 

* Madison's writings, vol. 4, page 222. 

5 



G6 IN CONGRESS — DEATH, iC. 

returned; but several gentlemen of equal eminence were — 
among them, John Y. Mason, and John M. Patton. Mr. 
Doddridge not only maintained liis former standing, but 
rose still higher in the estimation of the House, and of the 
country. Alas I before another session had convened, 
death, who "ever loves a shining mark," had claimed him 
for his own. 

Already, in the history of the country, the question of 
abolisliinG: slavery began to asritatc, and seriously disturb 
tlie councils of the nation. It is cui'ious to observe from 
the stand-point of 1875, how this question was regarded by 
Congress in 1831. On the 12tli dav of December of that 
year, E.\-President John (^uincy Adams, then a member of 
the House, presented numerous petitions from citizens of 
Pennsylvania, mostly members of the society of Friends, 
I>raying for the abolition of slavery, and the slave trade in 
the District of Columbia. Mr. Adams, in presenting these 
petitions, said, that they 

" Asked for two things: the first was the abolition of slavery; the second, 
the .ibolition of tlie slave trade in tlic District of Cohiiiibia. Tlicre w.is a 
traflic in slaves in the District of Columbia, which he did not know, but that 
it might be a proper subject of legislation for Congress. As to the other 
|)ra_ver of tlie petitions, the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, 
it occurred to him that the petition might have been committed to hie 
charge uiuh r an exin'otatioii that it would receive his countenance and sup- 
port. Ill' liciiiKnl it liis duty.tlurefore, to declare that it would not. "What- 
ever might be his opinion ut" shivery in tiie abstract, or of slavery in the 
District of Columbin, it was a subject whicii he hoped might not be discus.sed 
in that House; if it should he, he might, perhaps, assign the reasons why 
he could give it no countenance or suj^port. At present, he would only pny 
to the House, and to the worthy citizens who had committed their petition* 
to liis diarge, that the most salutary medicines, unduly administered, wero 
the mcst deadly of poisons." 



IN CONGRESS — DEATH, AC. 67 

Such were the sentiments of a Massachusetts Represen- 
tative in 1831. 

These petitions were referred to the Committee on the 
District of Columbia, of which Mr. Doddridge was a mem- 
ber. On the 19th of December he made a report from that 
committee, adverse to so much of the prayer of the peti- 
tioners as referred to the abolition of slavery — assigning ae 
a reason therefor, the consideration that the District of Co- 
lumbia was composed of territory originally ceded to the 
United States by the States of Virginia and Maryland, in 
which slavery still existed, and which entirely surrounded the 
District; and, therefore, it would, perhaps, be a violation of 
good faith towards those States, for Congress to abolish sla- 
very in the District " until the wisdom of the State govern- 
ments had devised some practicable means of eradicating 
or diminishing the evils of slavery of which the memorial- 
ists complained;" and further reporting that, "If under 
any circumstances such an interference of Congress would 
be justified, that the present is an inauspicious moment for 
its consideration." He, therefore, asked that the committee 
be discharged from the further consideration of so much of 
the petitions as prayed for the abolition of slavery in the 
District of Columbia. The report is silent as to the slave 
trade in the District. 

At this time, wlien the Ohio river, and all of our naviga- 
ble streams, are spanned from all the principal cities on their 
banks with bridges daily burdened with the transit of our 
iuternal commerce, it would hardly occur to the present 
generation, that the constitutional authority permitting 
their erection had ever been disputed. Yet such is the fact. 
Upon this point, however, the well-instructed mind of Mr. 
Doddridge had no difficulty. For we find, that on the 23d 



68 IN CONGRESS — DEATH, iC. 

of December. 1831, he offered a resolution directino: "the 
Committee on Internal Improvements to inquire into the 
expediency of providing for the erection of a bridge over 
the Ohio river at the town of AVheeling." Althougli this 
was only a resolution of inquiry, Mr. Speight, of Xorth Car- 
olina, opposed its ado['tion, on the ground that Congress 
had no constitutional authority to authorize such a struc- 
ture. Mr. Doddridge declined to discuss the question on a 
preliminary inquiry; but declared his readiness to sustain 
the rigiit of Congress, not only to authorize, but, if need be, 
to build the bridge, whenever the proposition should projt- 
erly come before the House for consideration. 

The centennial anniversary of Washington's birthday was 
now near at hand. A joint committee of the two Houses 
had been appointed to report on the subject. They recom- 
mended that there should be an adjournment of the two 
Houses, from the 21st to the 23rd of the current month, 
(February, 1832); that the day should be celebrated by an 
oration suitable to the occasion; that John Marshall, Chief 
Justice of the United States, be requested to assist in the 
ceremonies of the day by delivering the oration; and that 
Congress adopt the necessary measures to carry into effect 
the resolution which was proposed by Congress on the 24th 
day of December, 1799, for the removal of the body of 
George Washington, and its intorniont in the eapitol at the 
City of Washington. It is a matter of continued regret, that 
the Ciiief Justice was unable to comply with the request 
made to him. In reply to a letter addressed to him on the 
subject, he said, that: 

"In addition to the pressure of official duties wliich occupy nie cntirelj, and 
render it imi>o?.«ible for nie to devote so much lime to the subject as its inlrin- 



IN CONGRESS — DEATH, AC. 69 



sic importance and great interest in the estimation of the world, require, I am 
physically unable to perform the task I should assume. My voice has become 
80 weak as to be almost inaudible, even in a room not unusually large. In 
the open air, it could not be heard by those nearest me. I would, therefore, 
decline the honor proposed." 

Mr. Doddridge mauifested a lively interest in the matter, 
and earnestly advocated the adoption of the report of the 
committee. An objection was raised, "placed upon the 
ground of a particular interpretation of the will of the de- 
ceased," and, also, upon a refusal understood to have been 
made by Judge Washington, in 1816. Mr. Doddridge, with 
bis usual judicial discrimination, readily refuted the inter- 
pretation of the will relied on: 

"He could not concur in such a view of it. He thought that entertained 
by Mrs. Washington was more correct. The article referred to, merely pre- 
scribed a duty to his executors. The testator could not jjossibly liave foreseen 
the resolution of 1799, nor the refusal of his relative in 1816, nor the effort 
now making in Congress, and, therefore, could not put his own will in hostil- 
ity to that of his common country. It would have been indecorous to make 
such a request during his lifetime. It could only take jjlace after his death." 
And "he asked if it could be believed, that in answer to so humble a request 
Washington would have countervailed the wishes of his country." 

Strange to say, the debate upon this report elicited strong 
sectional feeling before it was concluded. Even then, the 
dissolution of the Union was prognosticated. Mr. Thomp- 
son, of Georgia, said in his place: "I presume there is 
scarcely an individual in this hall, who does not feel com- 
pelled to look to the possibility of a severance of this Union. 
Indeed, some profess to think such an event is probable. 
God forbid," said Mr. Thompson. "May this rnioii bo 
continued throno-h all time." "But," ho fOiitiniiLHl, ••re- 
move the remains of our venerated Washington from the 
remains of his consort and his ancestors, from .Mount Wv- 



70 IN CONGRESS — DEATH, AC. 

non and his native State, and deposit them in this captitol, 
and then let a severance of tliis rnion occur, and behold the 
remains of Washington on a sliore foreign to his native 
soil!" It is suggested here, that those "remains" could 
hardly have slept in peace on any shore, not embraced 
within the Union which he had devoted his life to create 
and establish. 

Mr. Doddridge replied to these unpatriotic vaticinations 
with a brevity and indifTerence bordering on contempt. 
"As to the gloomy anticipations," he said, "that this spot 
was to become the frontier of two hostile nations, those 
who thought more seriously of such a danger than he did, 
were at liberty to speculate for themselves. lie should 
act for the present." 

But the remains of Washington still repose beneath the 
fihades of his beloved Mount Vernon; and there let them 
repose undisturbed forever — consecrated by the homage of 
mankind — belonijing not alone to Virginia, nor vet to the 
whole nation, but to all the friends of virtue and human 
rii^hts throuohont the world, down to "the latest syllable 
o[' recorded time" — surrounded by a lialo of glory, which 
even the nation's capitol for a monument could, in nowise, 
tend to enhance. The capitol, with its iron dome and mas- 
sive marl)le cohunns may decay, and crumble into dust. 
.Some far, far future antiquaiian Layard, may be found ex- 
cavatinc: among tiie rubbish of ages, to ascertain its site. 
Hut the fame of AVasliington, imperishable as truth, will 
still enduie, needing nothing extrinsic to perpetuate it. 

It was during this Congress, when the celebrated Samuel 
Houston, afterwards the hero c)f San Jacinto, and president 
of Texas, on the streets of Washington, assaulted Mr. Stans- 
borry, a member of the House from Ohio, after its adjourn- 



IN CONGRESS — DEATH, iC. 71 

ment, and at a distance from the capitol, for words spoken 
in debate. The assault was a violent one, intlicting serious 
bodily injury. Mr. Houston was arrested and brought be- 
fore the House for a breach of its privileges. The annals 
of Congress do not furnish, perhaps, an abler debate than 
that which ensued upon the trial of this case. The question 
involved being, principally, of a legal character, fell within 
the range of Mr. Doddridge's professional studies; and the 
speech he made on the occasion, may be justly ranked 
among the ablest forensic efforts of which there is any 
record. And yet the author of this sketch used to hear 
members of the bar, with whom Mr. Doddridge practised, 
say, that it was only an average example of his arguments 
in important cases. 

The speech is hardly susceptible of analysis; for it is, it- 
self a simple and severe analj'sis: and is so perfect in its 
arrangement, and compact in its structure, as to render the 
facts stated and principles applied inseparable from the con- 
clusions deduced. It would be difficult to make a synopsis, 
shorter than the argument; and yet the argument is full, 
clear and conclusive. The main argument, however, is 
prefaced with a review of the history of parliamentary priv- 
ileges, generally, and of the particular privilege in question, 
more especially, in which, occupying onl}' two or three pa- 
ges, the reader will find, perspicuously stated, the gist of 
all that the utmost research, among the musty tomes of the 
past, can furnish on the subject. This is followed by a 
statement, characterised by equal precision and complete- 
ness, of the doctrines of privilege now recognised, as be- 
longing to legislative bodies, and, particularly, as guarantied 
by the Constitution of the United States to members of 
both Houses of Congress. He then answers the arguments 



72 IN CONGRESS — DEATH, <tC. 



of the counsel and apologists of the accused, consisting, 
mainly, of three propositions: 

1. That the privilege claimed is undefined, and that the 
defence, and the mode of proceeding, and measure of pun- 
ishment, ought to be defined by statute, before the House 
could take cognizance at all. 

2. That the House has no power to arrest or imprison, 
except for some violence or disturbance in its presence, and 
that even in such case, it can only remove the offender, and 
prevent his return. 

3. Or, if the House can take notice of a breach of privi- 
lege by assaulting a member for words spoken in debate, 
or for their publication, the offence must be committed 
while the member is in the actual performance of his duty, 
or is on his way directly to or from his lodgings and the hall 
of the House, or one of its committee rooms. 

His reply to these propositions was brief, but unanswer- 
able. 

The defence had also contended that the House was an 
improper tribunal for the investigation of the offence 
charged, and had assigned nine specific reasons in support 
of that proposition. Mr. Doddridge enumerated them, and 
refuted them in the order in which they had been stated, 
with irresistible effect; and yet this enumeration and refu- 
tation occupy only about a half page of his printed speech. 

l)Ul those wiio desire to comprehend this great argument, 
must read it for themselves. It must answer the present 
purpose, to present a few extracts from it, containing such 
general propositions as may serve as examples of the terse, 
lucid and incisive style of the speaker, and such as may be 
best understood and ajipreciated, without reference to the 



IN CONGRESS — DEATH, AC. 78 

context, although least essential to the conclusions he 
aimed at. 

"But, Mr. Speaker," paid Mr. Doddridge, "there is a race of politicians so 
wise in their own conceit, so self-suflBcient, that they refuse to be instructed 
by the opinions, or enlightened by the experience, of the whole world before 
them — on whom the lights of history are shed in vain — a tribe of rcstle.'sa 
men, who cannot be satisfied with the constructions of the race of state.smen 
who made, and fir.st administered the government of this country — to whom 
it passes for nothing, if every Congress before the present exercised a given 
power, or sustained a particular principle of construction. Yet tliese same 
politicians are so vain, as to imagine that they, in the short life of their power, 
can decide for all posterity. Thus it is, that, while now they are scattering 
to the winds all precedents set before them in times ancient or modern, they 
call upon us to be cautious of our doings, because we are now called on to de- 
cide the most important principle ever yet decided under the government, 
and to decide it, too, for all posterity; forgetting that if their posterity shall 
bear any resemblance to themselve.s, they will feel as little respect for their 
opinions and principles, as they themselves possess for those of all the world 
besides, past, present, or to come." 

Again: "It has often been remarked, that the errors of wise men are apt 
to be great and palpable, while those of weak men are but trivial. With 
strong perceptions of truth, we seldom wander from the road of duty; but 
when we do leave it, we do so by a course at right angles, never discovering 
that we have left the King's highway, until we find ourselves entangled in 
the thicket, or fast in a mora-ss. With weaker minds and dim perceptions, 
we stray oftener, diverging from our course, sometimes to the right, at others 
to the left; we soon recover ourselves; yet when on the right path, we pursue 
it but a short distance at a time, and even then, with feeble, trembling steps." 

Referring to the importance of the principle involved in 
the case — the freedom of debate — he said : 

"I am sensible of the time misspent in the present investigation, and of 
the importance of that time. But I am as sensible of the importance of the 
principles involved in the decision we are about to make. We are about to 
defend or surrender, the privileges, the rights, and even the liberties of our 
constituents. These, and all that is dear to them, are at stake. In deciding 
on the present question, this House will uphold the principles of our free 



74 IN CONGRESS — DEATH, iC. 



government, or permit its very foundation to be razed. For no one can 
believe that the representative principle can be maintained, when free- 
dom of debate shall cease; without this, representation would be a vain 
thing. Whenever it shall happen that the representative of the people is 
restrained, by considerations of per.sonal danger, from defending the right.s 
and interests of those he represents, then representation ceases to exist but in 
name, and the government by whatever name it may be called, becomes ar- 
bitrary. There has been one common effort here, and out of doors, to arraign 
this House for attempting to secure to its members, exclusive privileges; the 
question has even been debated as if the privileges of the members of this 
House alone, and not those of the whole body of the people, were involved. 
Thi.s eSbrt may be available to divert public opinion, for awhile, from the 
true question, but rely on it, that attention will soon be recalled." 

Might not our ardent ami inipotuons modem reformers, 
social, political and mora!, find a le.^^sou worthy of their 
consideration, in the following terse and well-expressed 
sentences? 

" In legislation, I hold it as an axiom, that laws must, in order to be wise, 
spring out of public opinion, and be conformable to it; and this, whether the 
lawgiver be a corporation sole, holding his power by birthright, or aggregate, 
and appointed by popular election. There is no profit in making and pro- 
mulgating laws that cannot be executed; and laws, decidedly at war with 
popular opinion, cannot long be enforced. A legislator, if he is wise and ex- 
perienced, may, in some degree, go beyond this; may improve, enlighten and 
control public opinion. That opinion, on the one hand, and the wisdom of 
the legislator on the other, may mutually act on each other as cause and 
effect; but essentially, wise legislation is but the expression of the popular 
will." 

Tiiose were times of high party excitement; and it had 
been more than intimated, on the floor of the House, as well 
as in the public journals of the country, that the President 
of the United States, if he did not instigate the assault made 
by Gen. Houston, at least, connived at it; and that the ad- 
ministration was not averse to the use of the bludgeon as a 
means of intimidating its political opponents in Congress. 



IN CONGRESS — DEATH, &.C. 75 



Mr. Doddridge, in noticing this impeachment, true to his 
own self-respect, and to the sense of justice and generosity 
which always distinguished him, availed himself of the op- 
])ortunity which the occasion afforded, to declare, that ho 
had no authority for ascribing so unworthy a purpose either 
to the president or to his cabinet. But in the same con- 
nection, he animadverted with pointed severity upon a class 
of persons, not peculiar to that day, or to any age or coun- 
try, or form of government, but found everywhere near the 
seat of power and patronage — hangers on — parasites — offi- 
cious intermedlers, ready for any servile deed, by which 
they may hope to propitiate the favor, or minister to the 
passions of their patron — political pimps, eager to prosti- 
tute their own manhood by pandering to the lust of au- 
thority : 

''I wish the House," said Mr. Doddridge, "to bear in mind, that, as I have 
no autliority to ascribe the efforts against the constitution, and public liberty, 
of which I have been speaking, to the President, or to his past or present 
cabinet, so I do not charge or ascribe them. It is not a new thing in history, 
ancient or modern, for the friends of those already clothed with high powers, 
to offer to invest them with more— with absolute sway. Some there have 
been, whose patriotism compelled them to reject such offers. But, in the in- 
dulgence of unlimited confidence in him who is at the head of this govern- 
ment, there are those who would blindly break down all the safeguards, all 
the cliecks of the constitution, all barriers for the security of our liberties, in 
order to invest him with absolute power; little thinking of the shortness of 
llie time during which he can hold it, or of the impossibility of preventing 
it from passing into other hands, or of restraining its exercise whenever it 
may fall into the hands of an ambitious President, disposed to respect no law 
but his own will, and to disregard all restraints on its free indulgence." 

It was jrreatlv to the credit and honor of the House of 
liepresentatives, that, notwithstanding the tremendous ar- 
ray of party influences in high and in low places, — by the 
public press, and by those clothed with official authority 



76 IN CONGRESS — DEATH, AC. 

and patronage — brought to bear upon the case, the majority 
rose above all sinister and personal considerations, and by 
a decisive vote vindicated, what Charles James Fox, on a 
similar occasion, in the British Parliament, called "their 
privileges, their dignity, and their existence" — "The Code 
of Libertv." For this result, as was acknowledged at the 
time, the country was largely indebted to the powerful ar- 
gument of Mr. Doddridge. On the 11th of May, 1832, the 
House, bv a vote of 106 to 89, declared that "Samuel llous- 
ton has been guilty of a contempt and violation of the priv- 
ileges of the House;" and thereupon, by the same vote, 
ordered that he be brought to the bar of the House and 
re{)riniandcd by the Speaker for liis said contempt and 
breach of privilege. This order was, accordingly, executed, 
on the 14th of May, 1832; and so terminated one of the 
raost remarkable cases of the kind to be found in parlia- 
mentary history. 

This speech gave Mr. Doddridge a national reputation. 
It attracted the attention, and received the high commen- 
dation of Mr. Webster. Mr. Madison read it, or liad it 
read to liim, in his retirement, ami wrote of it: "Your 
speech is a very able one, as was to be expected" — endors- 
incr its doctrines in the followin<i- words: "I have always 
considered the riirht of self-iu-oteetion in the discharge of 
the necessary duties, as inherent in legislative bodies, as in 
courts of justice; in the State Legislatures, as in the British 
Barliamcnt; and in the Federal Legislature as in both.* 

At this time, the District of Columbia was without any 
reiruhir co(U^ of laws. Until its retrocession to Virginia, 
that part of it lying south of the Potomac had remained 

*Madison'8 writing.'^, vol. 1, page '2'2\. 



IN CONGRESS — DEATH, AC. 77 



subject to the laws of Virginia existing at the time of the 
original formation of the District; and that part of it lying 
north of the Potomac still remained subject to the laws of 
Maryland, as they were when the District was established; 
excepting as they had been modified by the occasional and 
irregular legislation of Congress. This evil had not, indeed, 
been remedied, so late as the year 1871. And it was even 
then a common saying among members of Congress, that 
there was no statutory law of the District of Columbia, res- 
pecting wliich there was absolute certainty, excepting an 
old statute of Maryland providing for the ducking of com- 
mon scolds, which still remained unrepealed. 

Mr. Doddridge, as a member of the House Committee on 
the District of Columbia, had greatly endeared himself to 
its people by his vigilant and considerate attention to their 
interests. As a testimotiial of their high appreciation of his 
services, the authorities of the City of Washington caused 
an elegant portrait of him to be painted and placed in the 
City Hall. It might still have been seen there a few years 
ago — dusty and neglected. More recent inquiries after it, 
resulted in finding it stowed away at random among the old 
furniture and rubbish belonging to the corporation, without 
care, and, indeed, without recognition. Why not secure it 
to be brought home and hung up in the halls of the West 
Virginia Historical Society? 

It was chiefiy through his instrumentality that a special 
committee was appointed during this session of Congress, 
to draft a code of laws for the District, with leave to sit du- 
ring the recess, before the next session. He was chairman 
of this committee. But instead of remaining together at 
the City of Washington, they apportioned their labors 
among themselves, and went home. Joseph M. White, the 



78 IN CONGRESS — DEATH, AC. 



Delegate from the Territory of Florida, was appointed 
clerk of the committee, with instructions to remain in the 
city. It was arranged that each member of the committee 
should prepare bills covering the portions of the code as- 
signed to him, and send them to Mr. White, who should 
make copies of them, and transmit one to each of the other 
members of it; so that he should have time, prior to the 
next session of Congress, to examine them and make such 
notes of emendation as might suggest themselves as proper 
to be made. Tliey were to meet at Washington two or 
three weeks before Congress convened in December, 1832, 
consolidate their separate work in proper order and form, 
and so have their report of the entire code ready to be pre- 
sented as soon as Congress assembled. The portion of the 
code allotted to Mr. Doddridge, was the Judiciary Depart- 
ment. The writer of this paper was then a student reading 
law in his ofKce, and thus, had ample opportunity, so far as 
lie was able to appreciate them, to witness the industry and 
ability which Mr. Doddridge brought to the discharge of 
the important duty assigned to him. The writer copied the 
bills prepared by Mr. Doddridge to be sent to the clerk of 
the committee; and, in this way, became familiar with the 
mode which he pursued in preparing them. It was this: 
He had obtained the codes of several States. When be 
wished to prepare any particular chapter, he would read 
the corresponding chapters in these codes, and then laying 
them all aside, would, with wonderful rapidity, write off u 
bill to suit himself. It was, uniformly, much shorter than 
that in any of the codes he consulted. His facility as a 
draftsman was remarkable, lie had a wonderful power of 
condensation. The appropriate words, like well-drilled 
battalions, fell harmoniously into their proper places; and 



IN CONGRESS — DEATH, <tC. 79 

there were neither too many, nor too few of them. It is 
related of Mr. Webster, that he should have said, during a 
tour he made through the Western States in 1833, whilst 
stopping at Wheeling, that he would be willing to give all 
he possessed if it would secure to him this extraordinary 
faculty of Mr. Doddridge in the same degree of perfection. 
The great Massachusetts statesman, often took occasion to 
express his admiration of the abilities of Mr. Doddridge. 
During the tour refen-ed to, he stopped at Wellsburg, on 
his wa}' from Steubenville to Wheeling, for the express 
purpose of paying his respects, personall}', to Mrs. Doddridge. 
Hearing that there was a portrait of Mr. Doddridge in the 
town, he called to see it; and whilst he was looking at it, 
remarked: " lie was the only man I ever feared to meet in 
debate." Nor was the impression which Mr. Doddridge 
had made upon the mind of Mr. Webster of a transient 
character. It remained indelible. In the letter of Mr. 
Jfeeson, to which reference has alread}' been made, is the 
following; "During a recess of the Virginia Convention, 
(1850-51), on my way from Marion county to Richmond, 
I had the pleasure of spending an entire evening with Mr. 
Webster, then Secretary of State, at Washington, at his 
private office, in company with Judge Camden of Clarks- 
burg, and Col. (afterwards General) Ilaymond, our repre- 
sentative in Congress. I well remember that Mr. Webster, 
referring to the distinguished men of Virginia, spoke in 
the kindest and most emphatic terms of the extraordinary 
ability of Philip Doddridge, He indulged in eulogy of 
Virginians, that evening, but his most exalted, was that 
upon Philip Doddridge." 

An incident may be apj»i'(^priately mentioned here, shew- 
ing the power of Mr, Doddridge to concentrate the faculties 



80 IN CONGRESS — DEATH, 4C. 



of his miud upon whatsoever engaged his attention, amount- 
ing, almost, to complete abstraction from all else that sur- 
rounded him. While he was engaged upon the District 
Code, in his office one day, his little daughter, some ten or 
twelve years of age, came in, and witli great glee and ani- 
mation, announced to him, that his son "Biggs," whom he 
had not seen for a long time, had come home from his res- 
idence in the West. Ilis eye rested vacantly on the child, 
and she, supposing that her message was understood, has- 
tened away to her brother again. Mr. Doddridge was, in a 
moment, absorbed in his work. In the course of half an 
hour the same messenger returned, adding a request from 
her mother, that her father should come to the house im- 
mediately. But still the father remained at his task. Half 
an hour later, an elder daughter came in, and succeeded in 
arousiugr him to a consciousness of the fact, when he has- 
teued away with every manifestation of parental gratifica- 
tion, to embrace his son. 

According to the agreement already stated, Mr. Dod- 
dridge, having prepared the part of the code entrusted to 
him, went on to the City of Washington several weeks be- 
fore the assembling of Congress, to meet his colleagues on 
the committee. He arrived there in due time; but he 
never met the committee. After a brief illness, he expired 
at Gadsby's Hotel, on the 19th of November, 1832; and 
his honored remains now rest in the Congressional Ceme- 
tery, by the side of those of others of the country's public 
servants, who died at the seat of government before the 
modern facilities of transportation were invented. It was 
noticeable, a few years ago, that the simple monuments 
erected at their graves were becoming dilapidated, exhibit- 
inf' gisns of neglect and decav. Would not West Virginia 



IN CONGRESS — DEATH, &C. 81 



perform a pious iluty, and discbarge a patriotic obligation 
by removing tlie remains of a citizen so eminent as was Mr. 
Doddridge, and re-interring tbem at some suitable place 
within her own borders? 

His funeral obsequies, performed when Congress was not 
in session, attested the great respect with which he was re- 
garded. The civic authorities of Washington, and many of 
the public functionaries of the United States governmenr, 
united in them. Ex-President John Quincy Adams, who 
happened to be in the city, honored the ceremony with his 
presence; and the ^^ Xadonal Intdb'gencer,^' distinguished for 
the dignity and pro^iriety of its editorial department, and 
which always carefully measured its words of praise or cen- 
sure, in announcing his decease, declared that in "intellec- 
tual ability and sound legal culture, he had scarcely a supe- 
rior in the House." And when we remember, that such 
men as John Evans, of Maine, John Quincy Adams, Rufus 
Choate, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts. Tristam 
Burges, of Xew Hampshire, Charles Eenton Mercer, of Vir- 
ginia, George McDufiie, of South Carolina, and John Bell, 
and James K. Polk, of Tennessee, were then members of 
the House, this complimentary expression was equivalent 
to saying that Mr. Doddridge, in the respects mentioned, 
"had not a superior" in the whole nation. The corporate 
authorities of Alexandria passed a series of highly eulogistic 
resolutions expressing their sense of the loss the country 
had sustained in his demise. 

On the tirst day of the second session of the twcntj'-first 
Congress, soon after the House of Kepresentatives was 
called to order — 

"Mr. Mercer ro.«e .ind observed, That it was liis nielancholv diitj to an- 
nounce lo the House the decease of his lamented colleague Philip Doddridge, 

6 



82 IN CONGRESS — DEATH, iC. 

and to offer a resolution assuring the friends of the deceased, and the country 
at large, of the sense entertained by this House of the loss it has sustained. 
In performing this duty, Mr. Mercer said, that were he to indulge the feelings 
he possessed of the merits of his departed friend, he should find himself speed- 
ily arrested. In intellectual power that friend had been surpassed by few in 
this or any other country; in integrity of motive he was excelled by none; 
and in simplicity of heart, by no man he had ever known," 

The resolution passed by the House, is as follows: 

"Resolved, unanimously, That the members of the House of Representatives, 
from a sincere desire of shewing every mark of respect due to the memory 
of Philip Doudiudge, late a member thereof from the State of Virginia, 
will go into mourning by the usual mode of wearing crape around the left 
arm for one month." 

On the fourth dav of F'ebruarv, 1845, the Lefjislaturc of 
Viri^iiiiu created a new county out of parts of Harrison, 
Lewis, Tyler and Ritchie counties; and following the praise- 
worthy custom of thus honorins: the memory of the dis- 
tinguished deceased citizens of the State, the name of 
DoDDRirxJE was given to this new county. This was the 
first and only instance when the Legislature of Virginia 
ever bestowed such a distinction on a native or resident of 
Western Virginia — nidess the Indian tighter, Lewis Wetzel, 
may be claimed as an excei)tioii. Famous Indians, male 
and female, have been thus hontM-od; hut the name of no 
citizen of the State west of the Alleghany Mountains, until 
that time, ever found such grace in the sight of the Legis- 
lature of Mrginia — uidess, indeed. Jackson county is an- 
- other exception. Of the origin of the name of this county, 
the writer has no definite information. 



ANALYTICAL. 83 



ANALYTICAL. 



A critical analysis of the character of Mr. Doddridge, will 
hardly be expected in a sketch like this. It may not, how- 
ever, be out of place to refer to some of the more prominent 
traits which distinguished him. Among these, was his re- 
markable memory. Few men ever possessed this faculty 
in an equal degree. In his practice at the bar, he seldom 
made a written note of the testimony of the witnesses 
or of the arguments of counsel; yet neither of them were 
forgotten byhira; and the one, and the other, were referred 
to, when necessary, with a readiness and accuracy, as if he 
were readincr from a literal record of them. Nor was this 

O 

accuracy of memory transient, or confined to recent pro- 
ceedino-s. He could recall the evidence and arijuments of 
cases which had occurred a quarter of a century before, 
with the freshness and particularity of the events of vester- 
dav. The followinfj will serve as an illustration of the te- 
nacity of his memory: — 

Some gentlemen were sitting with him in a hotel in 
Wellsburg in the summer of 1832. The yellow water-line 
made on the surrounding walls, by the extraordinary flood 
in the Ohio river in the month of February preceding, was 



84 ANALYTICAL. 



still visible. It geemed almost incredible, that the river 
could ever have risen to snch a height. .Some one remarked 
that it must Imve been a kind of Deucalion's flood. Imme- 
diately Mr. Doddridge seemed to be absorbed in thought. 
After a few minutes, he clapped his hands, exclaiming — "I 
)^jivc it — r have it;" and then repeated the whole of that 
lonf, line ode of Horace, commencing — 

" .lam Fatis terri?!, iiivis atque dirK', 
"(iramliiuH iiiisit, pater et nibenle, 
" Dextera $acras jaciilatii? arces, 
"Terriiit iirliein." 

He declared that he had not seen, read or repeated it, since 
he was a boy, forty years before. 

It has been said, that where there is an extraordinary de- 
velopment of the memory, the other mental faculties are 
apt to be deficient. There have been remarkable instances 
of this character. But there was no such defect in the 
mental constitution of Mr. Doddridge. His judgment was 
as sound, and discriminating, as his memory was compre- 
hensive and exact. He had the clearest perception of the 
relation of things; and his perception was as quick as it was 
accurate. J n the most complex cases at the bar, he promptly 
comprehended the essential points; and such was his power 
of classitication, that the facts involved, however multifa- 
rious, and the principles of law that were applicable, liow- 
ever abstruse or technical, instantly arranged themselves in 
his niiixl with the most perfect logical precision. He saw, 
at once, what was material, and immaterial, to the issue: 
and he never burdened his argument, by minor or doubtful 
propositions. ?.nt like the skilfull commander, divesting 
himself, when going into action, of all unnecessary equip- 
ments, which might impede the celerity of Ins movements, 
or lessen the force of his attack, he did not encumber him- 



ANALYTICAL. 85 



eelf with the uncertain aid of secondary and trivial argu- 
ments, but relied on the clear, strong points of his case, 
and hurled them against the defences of his adversary with 
wonderful effect. lie seldom spoke long; and before the 
Bench he had few equals; but before juries, he was not 
always so successful. They require more elaboration. 
Twelve undisciplined minds must be approached from dif- 
ferent stand-points, before they are all effectively reached. 
The distinguishing power of Mr. Doddridge, consisted in 
the statement of a case, or a proposition, whether in the 
judicial or legislative forum. To do this well, is a great 
faculty; and it can belong only to great minds. When he 
had done this, as he usually did it, his argument was often 
complete; for the conclusions were patent and inevitable. 
The followini; is an example. 

A case which excited great interest was pending in the 
United States Court at Columbus, Ohio. Henry Clay was 
retained as counsel on one side, and Mr. Doddridge on the 
other. The reputation of these distinguished advocates had 
attracted an immense concourse of people, both of ladies 
and gentlemen, to hear the discussion. It was a great pub- 
lic disappointment, that the former did not appear when 
the case was finally called for hearing; and the expectation 
was, thereupon, wholly concentrated on the latter. I>ut 
when he arose, he merely read a few sentences from a slip 
of paper in his hand, stating the case, and then, with equal 
brevity, deduced the legal conclusions, and took his seat. 
AVhilst the crowd was again disappointed, the Bench was 
tilled with admiration. A complex and diilicult controversy 
was reduced to a simi)le incontrovertible ] ropD-ition : :iiid 
the verv wonls of Mr. Doddridge were afterwards incorpor- 
ated in the linal decision of the court. 



86 ANALYTICAL. 



It is sometimes tlie case, that where there is great breadth 
of intellect, there is an incapacity to appreciate the value of 
minor details. There may be breadth without accuracy: a 
large knowledge of general principles, without judgment to 
restrict their application, in the business of life, by those 
limitations which a prudent regard to actual surrounding 
circumstances renders necessary. In short, there are fre- 
quent instances of great knowledge, without corresponding 
wnsdom. Men, possessing minds of this character, are apt 
to be illosrical, and unsafe counsellors. But broad and com- 
prehensive as was the mind of Mr. Doddridge, it was also 
eminently practical. It would be dithcult to find a more 
exact and conclusive reasoner than he was. His arijuments, 
brief, clear and axiomatic, often resembled, in their precis- 
ion and compactness, the demonstration of a proposition in 
Euclid. 

It is sometimes said that there is a tendency in the pur- 
suits of tlie barrister to narrow the mind, and render it more 
technical than j^rofound; that lawyers arc seldom reformers; 
that haniporod by precedents, subservient to authorities, 
and restrained by the habits of their profession, from origi- 
nal investigations, they seldom rise above the wisdom of the 
past into new and higher spheres of thought and i)rogress. 
There may be a tendency in the study :ind practice of the 
law, to inspire conservatism. .Mr. Doddridge was conspic- 
uously conservative in his character. lUit whilst he rever- 
enced "the fathers," and, sometimes, sli;u[)ly rebuked those 
reckless innovators, who are ever ready to rush into ujitried 
paths, regardless of the experience and teachings of those 
who have traveled before them, he was not averse to change 
and to progress, ^''ay, he sought and challengcil them, on 
[troper occasions, as his course in the ^"irginia Convention 



ANALYTICAL. 87 



amply demonstrates. His reply there, to the opponents of 
constitutional reform, who were constantly warning him 
ao-ainst the danirers of revolution and anarchy, for terseness 
and vigor of style, clearness of historical facts, within limi- 
ted compass, is hardly exceeded by the iinest passage of 
Tacitus. Witness the following extract: 

"But the ball of revolution, once set in motion, rolls down to anarchy first, 
and then to despotism I It never returns I And is this really so? Permit 
me to call the attention of the committee to some of the civil revolutions of 
England, (for there have been several), in which the ball of revolution as- 
cended, and stopped at the point desired; and the fruits of which are now the 
boast, both of that country, and of this. On what does the Englishman pride 
himself, when contrasting his condition with that of the subject of any other 
eountrv? The answer readily occurs: the great and lesser charter of English 
liberties; jury trial, the habeas corpus, the common law, the right of suffrage ; 
in short, the Englishman rejoices in his civil and religious liberties; in a gov- 
ernment of laws. Among all his blessings, he is in the habit of naming 
magna cliarta us the first; when and how was that charter obtained? It was 
obtained by revolution at Runny Meade. A majority of the Barons demanded 
of King John a charter of privileges and liberties, as English subjects. The 
King refused; and this majority of Barons armed themselves (for numbers 
ruled there). The King wrote to them to know, what were these liberties 
and privileges about wliieh tliey were so anxious. The Barons answered, 
tliat the privileges they demanded were granted by the King's father. From 
this answer it is supposed that the great charter had been granted by King 
Henry the Third. This fact is not certain, however, nor is it important; the 
King signed certain articles of agreement, promising a charter of the rights 
demanded, which tlie Barons had drawn up in writing, as we propose to do: 
he engaged to meet them on a certain day, in July, 1215, to give full effect to 
this agreement. Instead of performing what he promised to do in good faith, 
the King interposed a difEculty ; that difficulty was not of freemen and vil- 
lains, of men and taxes, or of federal niunbers. He wrote to the Pope, and 
placed his kingdom under his protection, offering himself for a crusade to the 
Holy Land, and when the day arrived, instead of performing his engagement, 
he informed the Barons of his intentions, and that his kingdom being now 
the patrimony of St. Peter, they could not touch it without impious (if I re- 
collect we have heard this word here) hands. The Ijarons, on receipt of this 



88 ANALYTICAL. 



evasive answer, attacked and carried several of the King's castles; and, as 
the Pope could give no assistance, and St. Peter came not to claim Iiis heri- 
tage, the King and his minority had to yield to a majority of Barons. The 
charter was signed and sealed, and with the agreement which preceded it, is 
preserved in tiie tower of London to this day. This charter is a body of what 
we would now call common law — of family law. 

"This glorious civil revolution was effected in two or three short months 
in the year 1215. Between that year and the year 16S8 several revolutions 
occurred, and were attended with the same happy results, the consequences 
of which were frequent renewals of the great, and the additions of the lesser 
charter, and the articuli super cartas. In each of these revolutions the ball 
was rolled up, and at the end of each, the rights of the people who rolled it, 
acquired additional strength. 

" I pass on to the well known revolution of 1688. Until this time Eng- 
land had iicver known tlie blessings of an independent judiciary. The 
tenure quam diu bene se gesserii, had never been inserted but in one commis- 
sion. Great as was the value placed by our Whig ancestors in 1688, on their 
charters, their laws, their jury trial, and their writ of habeas corpus, they 
looked upon their rights and privileges as in some degree of danger, so long 
as the judges were dependent on the King or his ministry. The gentleman 
from Chesterfield said the other day, that when tiie King is weak and profli- 
gate, the rights of the people gain ground. William was weak at least; his 
ruling desire was to insert in the act of .settlement, a provision limiting the 
succession to the heirs uf liir* kiiis-woinan, the Princess Sophia, of Hanover ; 
he was too weak to perceive that his parliament were determined to do this 
at all events; that no other course could consist with their policy. The par- 
liament i)racticed on the King's weaknes.s, and as a consideration for the set- 
tlement of the crown, extorted his concession that the Judges of England 
sliould hold their commissions during good behavior. Unfortunately for 
Scotland and Ireland, this provision was omitted in each of their acts of 
union witli England, and the cflects of judicial dependence and indepen- 
deiu'c have been manifested in llie three kingdoms in our own days. A great 
etTort, ciiiiiniiiii to ilic \\ 'hijj;s tif lOngland, Ireland and Scotland, was made 
at ihi' same time. Tiie object was parliamentary reform. Tiie nocessity of 
reform was manifest. Tiie means proposed were orderly and constitutional. 
Government endeavdred to suppress the United Irisli in Ireland, the friends 
of reform in Scotland, and corresponding societies in London. In conliicts 
botweiMi L;nv(iiinii.nt and people, considerable excess happened in each king- 



ANALYTICAL. 89 



doiu. The laws ol' Ireland diflcred from those of Scotland, and the laws of 
each from those of England ; I mean those relating to crimes and punish- 
ments ; the greatest diflerence was in the Forums, before which the subjects 
of each kingdom were brought for trial. The Englishman was brought before 
independent jiidu'es ; those of Ireland and Scotland before judges amenable to 
the King and his ministers. The Irishman suffered death ; the Scotchman ban- 
ishment ; while the Englishman was acquitted and greeted as a patriot. Eng- 
lishmen were not yet satisfied with the concession of ^Villiam ; the judges were 
not secure fi"om a demise of the crown, and tiiis defect, at length, was remedied 
by the statute in the reign of one of the Georges. Hereisabrief history of four 
or five civil revolutions, if our present effort may be called one. All these hap- 
pened in our mother country. Before the first, the government of that country 
was a feudal monarchy — a despotism; since the last, it is a free-limited monar- 
chy. These civil revolutions have made that government such, that it is receiv- 
ing every day the warm and reiterated plaudits of our opponents on this Hoor. 
From the last of these revolutions,, we have coi)ied our independent judici- 
ary ; and. although I will aid to create more responsibility there, I pray that 
we and our posterity to remotest time, may never be weak enough to part 
with this surest, greatest sheet anchor of every free State." 

Mr. Doddridge was not a letinied man — if extensive liter- 
ary and scientific acquirements are to be included in the 
meaning of that term. lie was a select, rather than miscel- 
laneous, or extended reader; but what he read, he read 
well — storinc: away whatever was valuable in the treasury 
of his never-failing memory, — not in chaotic confusion, as 
some men gluttonously devour knowledge, but well diges- 
ted, classified and in order, ready for a[)propriation when- 
ever there was a demand for it. He was, however, most 
thoroughly conversant witli the legal, jiolitical, and consti- 
tutional history of Great Britain, and of his own country, 

Xor was he, what is called, "a case lawyer.'' Although 
familiar with a wide range of reported cases, and, especially 
with those of Virginia, and of the Snjireme court of the 
United States, he did not often elaborately refer to them in 
his arguments. When he did cite a case, however, it was 



90 ANALYTICAL. 



sure to be very much to the point, and to cover, completely, 
the question involved. His knowledge of the elementary 
principles of legal science was so thorough, and his power 
of enunciating thcni clearly, so extraordinary, that he sel- 
dom needed the authority of adjudicated cases to support 
his positions. He, usually, reversed the order of that class 
of law3-ers who ransack all the repoi'ts in their library to 
find a principle; he announced the pi'inciple at once, as- 
sured that those who deemed it necessary to search for 
them, would iind the decisions sustaining it. 

A gentleman well acquainted with him in the prime of 
his life, and eminently qualitied to form an intelligent opin- 
ion of such a matter, writes: "Mr. Doddridge was not great 
(great as he was) from education, or early associations, but 
from natural endowment. If ho had had the education and 
associations of Webster, he would, undoubtedly in [)ublic 
estimation and in fact, have been his compeer, if not his 
superior. IVrliaps it was, in some measure, owing to the 
comparatively limited range of his scientific and literary 
researches that he was enabled to concentrate his great 
powers in the study of law, and thus become the great ele- 
mentary lawyer that he was. I remember once, at a private 
dinner party in Richmond, when Mr. Doddridge, inciden- 
tally, became the subject of remark, hearing Chief Justice 
^Marshall say, that Doddridge, as a lawyer, was second to 
no one at the Bar of the United States Court." "^^ 

^Extract from a letter of Jolin C\ Camitbill, Ksq., of (^hio county, West 
Virginia. Nor was this gentlcman'>s cstiiuafo of Mr. Doildriiigc as a states- 
man less appreciative. In a letter written to the author, from Kichmond, 
shortly after the death of ^[r. Doddridiie, he says: "The loss of our dis- 
tinguished friend, IMiilip l>()ddrldge, at any time, would have been, to the 
publie, a great misfortune, but at the present crisis it is a national calamity. 
His talents, tirmncss, and political integrity, turned the eyes of all wise and 
patriotic statesmen to him, as one, amongst a few others, who were expected 
to breast the coming storm." 



ANALYTICAL. 91 



Another distinguisliiiig featui-e in the character of Mi-. 
Doddridge, was his ingenuousness, lie abhored all shams. 
At the bar, he seoi-ned the chicanery and trickery of the 
pettifogger. On the hustings, as well as in the halls of the 
legislative assembly, he never stooped to the arts of the 
demas^ogue. His intellect was too large to form an alliance 
with anything so paltry. But, as not unfreqnently happens 
to great natures, he was sometimes the dupe of the design- 
ing, and the victim of misplaced confidence. Conscious of 
his own candor, he was slow to suspect others of duplicity. 
It may be said of him, as Macauley said of his friend Lord 
Holland, that he possessed a "magnanimous credulity of 
mind, which was as incapable of suspecting as of devising 
mischief." 

It is one of the recognized canons of literary criticism, 
tiiat simplicity is essential in tlie sublime. Sad experience 
has taught us, that we may not always rigidly appl}' the 
same test in our judgment of great minds: for, whilst it was 

said of Bacon that he was "the greatest," it had also to be 
said, that ho was "the meanest of mankind." Yet sim- 
plicity is essential to the perfection of all trul}' great charac- 
fti's ; and such simplicity, without "guile or hypocrisy," 
Mr. Doddridge did possess in an eminent degree. It was 
no unmeaning compliment of Mi-. Mercer, when he declared 
in the United States House of Representatives, that "In 
simjtlicity of heart Mr. Doddridge was excelled by no man 
he had ever seen." 

It could not be said, in tiio ordinary sense of the word, 
that he was an orator. But he possessed, in an eminent 
degree, the qualities of a good speaker. His articulation, 
although a little guttural, was distinct; his language was 
pure and exact; his style was chaste and perspicuous; his 



92 ANALYTICAL. 



Utterance was easy and unhesitating; and his manner, 
though not rhetorical, was emphatic and foi'ciblo. lie ad- 
dressed himself to the understanding, more than to the 
imagination; and the weight of his arguments was never 
impaired by the embellishment of fancy. 

Ilis manners were simple and unostentatious. lie was 
the charm of the social circle. His conversatitm flowed as 
a perennial fountain, sparkling with a genial wit, and ledo- 
lent of the Uindness and goodness of his heait. With a 
memory stored with the treasures of histoi'v, and rich in 
anecdotes and jiersonal incidents, he had the haitj>iest facil- 
ity in relatino; them; and was the centre of attraction and 
delight, in whatsoever society he was ])laced. 

Mr. Doddridge possessed the faculty of intuition, in a re- 
maikable decree. In the investigation of cases at the bar, 
he seemed to comprehend them, oftentimes, long before all 
the facts were disclosed by the evidence. Ilis great expe- 
rience, doubtless, qualitied him, in a measure, to do this; 
but aside tVom this, he had an e.xtraonlinary penetration, 
that anticipated what was to come with aluK^st unerring 
certainty, lie frequently surprised witnesses by telling 
them what they knew, before they had fully stated it: and 
such as were disposed to prevaricate, or to talsify, seldom es- 
caped from his examination without being exp()sed and con- 
founded, lie often cut short the ]>rolix stories of his clients, 
in making known their cases, by giving the jtarticulars of 
tlieiii liiinself. The following is an illustrative instance: — 
A gentleman called t(» consult iiirn on jirofessional business, 
and had partially I'clatod the niattii's involved, when Mi-. 
JJoddridge interposed, and brielly, but succinctly, detaile<l 
the remaining facts with such exactness as greatly to sur- 
prise Ilis client, who inquired oi" liini, I'roin whom he had 



ANALYTICAL. 93 



received his information. "From no person," said Mr. 
Doddridge; "but from what you liave told me, I know the 
facts must be as I have stated them.'' 

A correspondent* furnishes the following incident, upon 
the authority of Jesse Edgington, Esq., who was a cotem- 
porary and w(M-thy associate of Mr. Doddridge, and who 
lived to an extreme old age, dying only a few years ago, 
revered and res[iccted by all who know him. It affords an 
illustration of the charm and versatility of Mr. Doddridge's 
conversational powers, as well as of his retentive memory, 
and of the facult\' of analysis and intuition just referred to. 

"They were traveling on liorseback to Richmond, and, in Maryland, were 
joined by a Mr. Ilayden, of Chambersbiirg, Pennsylvania. That charming 
romance, Gny Mannering, hail just been published in this country, but had 
not reached the AVest. Mr. Ilayden had read it, and in whiling away the 
hours of the long ride, gave a pretty thorough sketch of it. After their ar- 
rival at Richmond, they met at a dinner party, and Guy Mannering being 
the subject of conversation, Mr. Doddridge gave such a clear and graphic re- 
sume of it as enchanted his auditors — making Meg Merrilies, Dandy Din- 
mont, Pleydell, and others, stand out in perfect relief in their true characters 
before them. Hayden was astonished; rather indignant, indeed, and took 
the first opportunity, privately, to say to Mr. Doddridge: 'Sir, I thought 
you said that you had not read that book?' 'Nor have I,' replied Mr. Dod- 
dridge; 'all I know about it is what you told me.'" 

Mr. Doddridge was a regular attendant upon the ministry 
and services of the Protestant Episcopal Church; but whe- 
ther he was a communicant, is not now remembered by 
the writer. He had, however, a solemn regard for the 
word of God, and the greatest reverence for Christianity. 
Any levity respecting either, especially on the part of the 
young, was sure to evoke some manifestation of his dis- 
pleasure. Can there be true greatness without this religious 

* James E. Wharton, Esq., Mansfield, Ohio. 



94 ANALYTICAL. 



element of character? Young men, animated by a true 
ambition, should ponder well this question. Mr. Webster, 
in pronouncing a public eulogium on that great lawyer, Mr. 
Jeremiah Mason, of Boston, said: 

"Nothing of character is really permanent but virtue and personal worth. 
These remain. "Whatever of excellence is wrought in the soul itself belongs 
to both world?. Real goodness does not attach itself merely to this life ; it 
points to another world. Political or professional reputation cannot last for- 
ever; but a conscience void of ofience before God and man is an inheritance 
for eternity. Religion, therefore, is a necessary and indispensable element in 
any great human character. There is no living without it. Religion is the 
tie that connects man with his Creator, and holds him to His throne. If that 
tie be all sundered, all broken, he floats away, a worthless atom in the uni- 
verse; its proper attractions all gone, its destiny thwarted, and its whole fu- 
ture nothing but darkness, desolation and death. A man with no sense of 
religious duty is he whom the scriptures describe, in terse and terrific lan- 
guage, as living ' without God in the world.' Such a man is out of his proper 
being, out of the circle of all his duties, out of the circle of all his happiness, 
and away, far, far away, from the purpose of his creation." 

Mr. Doddridge never appeared to greater advantage, than 
at home surrounded by his family. Great minds, and es- 
pecially great students, are, sometimes, deficient in those 
social characteristics which give the chief charm to the do- 
mestic relations. They become married, as it were, to their 
books, and retire to the seclusion of their libraries. Ab- 
sorbed in their studies, or engrossed with their professional 
pursuits, they have no relish for the amenities and fellow- 
ship of the family circle; and the affections of the husband 
and parent lie dormant and undeveloped. It was not so 
with Mr. Doddridge. Simple, unassuming, genial, and 
frentle everywhere, his presence at home was always hailed 
with delight by his children, old and young, who clustered 
about him in the unreserved confidence of mutual pleasure 
and affection, and the reciprocity of kind ofhcee. 



ANALYTICAL. 95 

Mr. Doddridge died ia the maturity and fall vigor of his 
wonderful intellect, just at the time when his eminent abil- 
ities and distinction in the chief council-chamber of the 
nation, had so attracted and commanded the public atten- 
tion and confidence, as to presage for him a higher, and still 
more illustrious career. More than forty-two years have, 
in vain, awaited a competent biographer. Until there shall 
appear a pen more worthy of the sacred task, this imperfect 
sketch is here recorded by one who has reason to cherish 
his memory. 



96 A SUGGESTION. 



A SUGGESTION. 



On the second day of July, 1864, the Congress of the 
United States passed a resolution inviting the several States 
to furnish "two full-length marble statues of deceased per- 
sons, who have been citizens thereof, and illustrious for 
their renown, or from civic or military services, such as each 
State shall determine to be worthy of national commemo- 
ration," to he placed in the old Ilall of the House of Rep- 
resentatives. 

Some of the States have, already, responded to this invi- 
tation. Rhode Island has furnished statues of General Na- 
thanjil Greene and Roger Williams: and (Connecticut, those 
of Jonathan Trumbull and Roger Sherman. Other States, 
doubtless, will avail themselvesof the samegratefnl i»rivilege. 
It is, respectfully, suggested, that West Virginia shall fol- 
low this patriotic example. She cannot hesitate as to the 
first person to be tiius honored; and in placing the statue 
of Philip Doddridge among those of the illustrious sons of 
the Republic, she will have the proud satisfaction of know- 
ing, that she has done all that the marble image of one of 
her own sous can do, to perpetuate the name and memory 
of one of the greatest minds that ever adorned the nation. 



A SKETCH 



OF 



I Hi: LiFi: 



F 



I'lllLir IMIIUIKIIKIE. 



1!Y 



y^. T. ^V^TI.LEY 



RKAI) IJKFORK THt; WKST VIKCIMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 

AT ITS ANNUAL MEETIN(; HELD IN THE 

WEST VIRCJINIA UNIVERSITY. 

JUNE, 1875. 



PUBLISHED 15Y ORDER OF THE SOCIETY 



M O R ( i A N T () W N : 

MORGAN' .V: HOFFMAN'. rUIXTKKS. 

187'). 



-* 



W 78 






V ••• -^^ 






'-<^ 



<^ ' /^*- 



* 



-A 



'<#', ••v^- 






6^- 

. 



'0^ 



•nt.. 






0' 






« I ■» 



.* ■ •'< 



» • 



m^' .»* 



,0' 






>. 



^0- 






o 





,0- 







0^ . 



:& 



.A 



';;*^ 



y> 









rHN 



- <<'* .* 



v^^.^ 



'^*: 







« '* 



j©^.- .'fc.-' "^^ "-^ 



♦ o 



,* 






°o 



V •j:^'* c>. 




sO^ ►IV- "> 



.<^' <^.^: 






if 



vC- V 



,^ ... 



.0 • ' * "- 



« « a 










. _?-i: 






.^• 















> 



'^^c'^^ *j^ V...^'^ 



















^^ • • * 






o_ V 







" o 









«> -y. 






-.. -.^ 



> 






, • 



